Percy Jackson and the Prisoner of the Underworld
by LostInFandoms
Summary: "The Gods are all part of some dysfunctional family. As usual, it's up to me to clean up the mess." When something happens to Annabeth, Percy, Grover and Clarisse embark on a quest to find her. When they do, however, it's not the end of the story as they'd have thought... Read as Percabeth bring up a demon child, meet the Mafia and have a family counselling session with the Gods.
1. Chapter 1

**So this is my first fanfiction. I've tried to write American (trash can instead of bin, ect) and I've not read Heroes of Olympus yet, so it might not be completely accurate. It's set sometime after The Last Olympian (I know there isn't enough time, but oh well). This is my first ever fanfiction so please leave feedback!**

**I Go To Camp and Live Happily Ever After – I Wish.**

Usually, we don't go looking for monsters.

However, Chiron had told me there was a big one on the loose, and since I had the most experience with these things, (I'd like to think sending The Lord of the Titans back to Tartarus gained me some brownie points) I'd been chosen to go and hunt it down. I was to meet Annabeth, Grover, and Clarisse at the top of Half Blood Hill.

That was that. Nice to see you Percy, welcome back, now go away and fight some monsters.

I couldn't complain though. Annabeth and Grover are my best friends; staying at camp wouldn't have been any fun without them. Clarisse… Well, apart from the fact she wanted to tear me limb from limb, we got on quite well.

Still, I couldn't help feeling a little down. I'd been looking forward to coming back all year. Camp Half Blood is where we demigods spend our summers. When the Greek Gods (Yeah, they exist by the way) fall in love with humans - and they do that surprisingly often - we're the end result. Cursed with monsters trying to kill us for our whole lives, we come here to perfect our skills. You wouldn't believe how many of us there are. I could tell you some, and you'd know them. Hermes, the messenger God, has so many kids that there's not enough room. Luckily, too, because if there wasn't so many you certainly wouldn't be reading this now.

Excited, I speed walked up the hill. I hadn't seen Annabeth since she came to mine and my parent's apartment for Christmas. For Grover, it was even longer. As I neared the top, Annabeth jogged down, her Cinderella blonde hair flowing behind her; grey eyes sparkling. She wore her orange Camp Half Blood top and denim shorts.

"Percy!" She said, and kissed me. Annabeth was my... Well, I'll just say Grover didn't greet me like that.

I was about to say hello back, when Annabeth started talking again. Very fast.

"I saw the Eiffel Tower! Dad said he had a surprise, and then brought us on a plane to France! You wouldn't believe it, the angles..." On and on about a load of building stuff that I don't understand. Annabeth wants to be an architect. Just last year, the Gods had given her the honour (she says honour, I say chore) of rebuilding Olympus. I'd learnt to not ask about that, though. "...and it was just amazing!" She finished, with a big grin on her face.

I smiled back. "Missed you."

"You too, seaweed brain."

She looked like she was going to talk more about the construction of the Eiffel Tower, but thank the gods; Grover stumbled in between us, trying to get his fake feet on. Being a satyr and all, he's half goat, complete with hooves and horns. As mortals just can't accept his appearance, he hides it with by wearing shoes and a cap over his curly brown hair.

"Percy, I need - some - help!" He said as his shoe flew off his foot.

"Getting your shoes on?"

"They're - so - small!" he struggled. He was getting bigger, I thought, as I watched his fruitless attempts to pull them on. It seemed like yesterday I was defending him from Nancy Bobofit at Yancy Academy. He'd always been a late developer for a Satyr, but it looked like he was catching up now.

After we'd got Grover fully dressed, we got into the car. The black paint job was peeling off, and the seats were lumpy with holes in them. Grover got in the front; I had to admire his bravery, I would NOT want to ride shotgun with Clarisse. As me and Annabeth climbed in the back, talking about our year, someone shouted us from the front.

"Are you two done back there?" The dragon had awoken from its slumber, and her face appeared between the two front seats. She was a big girl; born to wear Greek armour. She stared at me. Thinking of all the ways she could torture me, probably. Just what you'd expect from a daughter of Ares.

"Nice to see you too, Clarisse." I mumbled quietly. Annabeth just smiled at me. The engine started up.

"You'd better keep quiet." Clarisse growled to Grover. He gulped. The engine roared, and we were off. 

"So what's so special about this monster, then?" I asked, more to break the tentative silence that Clarisse's reckless driving had caused.

"It's Hecate's daughter." Annabeth answered.

"I don't suppose you could be more specific?" Names are powerful, and we avoid saying them whenever possible. Which is alright for Annabeth, if your mother is the Goddess of Wisdom and you know these things, but if you're me, it's kind of difficult to know what anyone's talking about.

"Lamia," Annabeth whispered, "She and Zeus uh... had a little thing going on. Needless to say she got on Hera's bad side. Hera killed all her children."

"So you'd better watch out." called Clarisse from the front. Colour rose into Annabeth's cheeks. She and Hera weren't exactly on the best of terms.

She cleared her throat. "Anyway, Hera transformed her into a monster that ate other people's kids."

After taking a moment to check that I'd heard that correctly, I managed to get out "She... What?"

"Eats other people's kids." said Annabeth solemnly. "Not been sighted since Jason's time. Suddenly she's popped up and kids have been going missing like crazy. And yes," she added, seeing the look on my face, "She specifically eats children. Mothers used to tell stories about her to bad kids." I gulped. Thinking back, I felt pretty grateful that the worst my mom ever told me when I was bad was that Santa Claus was watching me.

Clarisse swerved the car around a corner; I heard some cars behind us beeping their horns angrily. If we managed to get to this monster without being pulled over for speeding, I'd give Clarisse a hug. Wait, take that back. I wouldn't risk it.

Slowly the sun began to set, and a few hours in the car passed. A year ago, we'd have had to travel on buses and trains and all sorts, but now Clarisse was old enough to have a fake ID, we had the luxury of the most beat up piece of trash that our camp director, Dionysus, could find. Everyone recounted their summers; Annabeth rambled on about France some more, Clarisse had had run ins with the police, and Grover had a pretty busy regime now he'd been invited to join the Council of Cloven Elders and he was to be treated as Lord of the Wild. Stupidly, I added that I'd got a B in class, which was my highest ever grade; somehow it didn't quite compare.

Darkness obscured the sky, and Clarisse and Grover started arguing. Something about nature here, something about war there, I wasn't really listening. They were fighting like an old married couple. To add to the domestic feel, I interrupted moaning, "Are we there yet?" Several times.

"Jackson, we're not going to be there until after midnight. If you ask me again I'm going to come back there and personally strangle you to death!" I got the impression that I should shut up.

Annabeth put her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes. I relaxed. _I suppose a few more hours wouldn't be too bad_, I thought, as my eyelids dropped. 

Ringing filled my ears as a blunt object came into contact with my head. Feeling groggy, I opened my eyes and saw Clarisse standing next to the car, shield in hand, looking satisfied. On the other side of me, Annabeth's eyes were fluttering open. She was still leaning on me, her fingers intertwined with mine. I found myself wishing I'd woken up facing this way instead of the other; with Clarisse's angry eyes staring at me.

"You could always just shake me." I told her, rubbing my head with my free hand.

"We're here." She said shortly, cleaning her knife on her top.

"Can I have a chance to wake up?" I asked. Immediately I regretted it. I suppose it wasn't really fair that she'd been driving for so long, and I was complaining about not getting enough sleep.

She glared at me. "Come on Grover, we're on our own on this one, Romeo and Juliet need more time to get out of bed."

Reluctantly, I clambered out of the car. We were in a small clearing, in a forest. Towering pine trees surrounded us on every side. Looking at the sky, I'd say it was around midnight.

"It's 1am." said Grover. Either our empathy link hadn't completely faded, or he was just being intuitive. I thought about my comfy, albeit, slightly damp cabin back at camp. I could be there right now, after sitting next to a glowing warm campfire eating marshmallows. But no. I was here, hunting some creep who liked to eat kids.

Cautiously, we trekked deeper into the forest. The trees got thicker, and I tripped on a few (okay, maybe a _lot) _of tree trunks that snaked onto the path. Occasionally, something would rustle a bush in front of us, and everyone would draw their weapons, until a fluffy squirrel emerged. Annabeth and Clarisse went in front, discussing tactics. Grover and I lagged behind. He chewed on a tin can. "So…" He said awkwardly. We'd not talked in ages. "How's... How's things with Annabeth? She's managed not to kill you yet."

"She's come pretty close." I told him. "How is it being Lord of the Wild now?" When the quest to find Pan had been abandoned, Dionysus had put Grover in charge of everything, including the satyrs that now had nothing to do.

"Great! It's so time consuming though. I've not been able to have a proper meal since I started."

"You mean no enchiladas? How are you still standing?" I joked.

"Honestly, I have no idea. Actually, we should do that once this quest is over. We could go to a nice, big fast food restaurant." His eyes went misty at the idea. I was about to say something, when Clarisse stopped dead in her tracks and I walked right into her.

"Watch it Jackson!"

"I'm sorry; I didn't know you were –"

"Shh!" she ordered, and I followed her gaze to find out why we had stopped.

Walking- no, slithering out of the bushes was a sight to send you screaming. From the waist down, it was an emerald green serpent's tail. From the waist up, however, was a woman, wearing a simple white gown, with shoulder length auburn hair. She would've been beautiful, but her hair was tangled; frown lines aged her face. A sinister trickle of blood came from the corner of her mouth. But that wasn't what was scary. It was her eyes. They were a dark abyss of nothingness, emptiness filling them.

"Ugh, heroes." She spat.

I drew Riptide - a gift from my father. I should probably mention: my dad's God of the Sea.

Yes, Poseidon gave me this pen, Anaklusmos, to use its Latin name. Of course, it's not actually a pen. Uncapping it will give you a bright, gleaming, celestial bronze sword, that'll pass through any mortal, but it's lethal to monsters. Luckily it's enchanted to return to my pocket. Otherwise I'd have lost it a long time ago.

I was about to charge when I felt someone tugging on my sleeve – Annabeth was staring into the trees looking worried. I followed her vision; around twenty kids were tied up, white as ghosts. Some had gags on, others looked too terrified to talk. Seeing them stiffened my resolve, I charged forward.

Lamia dodged my sword easily. Clarisse tried to catch her as she moved away from me; but she slipped out of her reach. She was fast. Almost impossible to catch. Annabeth ran up close with her knife (my heart jumped into my throat) and Lamia grabbed her wrist. Screaming, I charged again, but Clarisse beat me to it; with one mighty swing she forced the monster to release her grip on Annabeth, and to duck before she got decapitated. Annabeth stumbled away; I could see her trying to figure out Lamia's flaws. I wanted to get to her, but Grover pulled on my sleeve and said "The kids!"

"We'll get them out after, Grover!" I shouted back, diving away from Lamia as she launched a new attack on me. She bared her teeth and two long pointed fangs appeared - she looked like a vampire. Clarisse batted her away with her sword.

"No, now!" Grover said whilst helping me up. "They'll distract her. She won't want to lose them!"

I considered it. These kids obviously hadn't been fed lately. Running away probably wasn't going to be the first things on their minds if they got out. They'd be easy targets - Lamia would have no trouble getting to them. I glanced at Clarisse, she was holding off the beast; but it was learning her fighting style, where she would aim, how she would dodge, and it was learning fast. She wouldn't be able to fight forever. Annabeth was a little further back. Our eyes met, she gave me a fleeting look of panic. That meant she didn't have a plan. If _Annabeth_ didn't have a plan, we were all doomed. I motioned to the children, she seemed to understand me. Sprinting towards them, I cut through the ropes holding them together as easily as paper, and shouted "RUN!"

Thankfully, they didn't collapse of hunger, thirst, or even fright. Slowly, they began to jog away, dragging their friends with them. Annabeth and I started ushering them away like sheep. From the corner of my eye, I could see Grover pulling out his pipes and playing a tune, causing vines to grow from the ground slowly between Lamia and us.

A shrill shriek pierced the air. Grover was right; she did not want to lose those kids. She had lost her concentration. Clarisse aimed, and almost caught her side, her sword brushing against her waist. Distracting her might have worked, but it made her angrier, more dangerous. She slithered towards us, fangs bared, when Grover's roots wrapped around her tail. Easily she slipped out of them. Of course she did, she had a snakes tail. How had I forgotten that? She moved towards us.

Annabeth and I started to herd the children away as fast as we could. We were making it as well, or maybe Lamia was just teasing us. With it being so dark, the kids were tripping over every root and tree trunk they crossed. Where were Clarisse and Grover? I chanced a glance over Lamia's shoulder, and felt like hitting my head against a brick wall. The vines hadn't been able to hold Lamia with her smooth, narrow snake's tail, but they'd managed to get my friends. Grover was grasping at the air, obviously looking for his pipes that could free them. But it was too dark. Though we could see each other and Lamia in the moonlight and the dim glow that Anaklusmos was casting, there was no way he was finding those pipes.

I saw Annabeth trying to form a plan, but it was impossible - two men down, and we had a bunch of kids suffering from malnutrition to protect. But her eyes lit up. My body tensed. I knew what she was going to do a second before she did it. She threw her knife over Lamia's head towards Clarisse. Clarisse caught it and began working on the vines. It would've been a great plan - if Lamia hadn't dived at Annabeth the second she'd disarmed herself. "Annabeth!" I yelled.

The demon sunk her teeth into Annabeth's neck. Melting into light, Annabeth almost... Glowed. A flash of light obscured my vision. That was it. Just like that... She was gone.

An evil, triumphant look crept onto Lamia's face. I didn't even think. I charged straight forward. She had no escape. There were children on Lamia's right, Clarisse and Grover had cut themselves free and were on her left. But I didn't care.

I think I thought running through Lamia with my sword would make me feel better about what had just happened. But as I found my mark, all I got was a cold, stale, last breath of the monster on my face. I forced myself to stare right into the empty voids that were her eyes until the moment she exploded, as monsters do, like a sand castle that had just been kicked.

Deathly silence filled the air. I collapsed to my knees. Annabeth... She couldn't be gone... She just couldn't.

Emptiness filled my head; I wasn't sure what to do. I could feel tears trickling down my cheeks, a pair of hands tried to pull me up. I refused to move. Annabeth could not just... Die. We'd been through too much together for her to just leave me here.

I guess I should explain that. I'd first met Annabeth on my first visit to camp. Her first official words to me were 'You drool in your sleep.' I know, charming, right? Then my dad needed me to go on a quest for him – Annabeth had just invited herself along. We couldn't stand each other, but somehow we became friends. The next year, we went on another quest (not an authorised quest, but a quest all the same) and we'd gone through a lot; she heard the Siren's song and I saved her, I was a guinea pig and she saved me, the usual. The next year, she'd gone missing. I'd snuck out and forced my way onto a quest to save her. I'd had a rather uncomfortable conversation with Aphrodite about why I was there. A year later, we went into the Labyrinth together. She'd kissed me, literally two seconds before I was about to die (great timing). Luckily, I didn't die, but it wasn't until the next year that we'd officially become a couple.

And now, she wasn't here. Just like that. Leaving only her backpack and my memories of her. The rest of the world didn't matter anymore.

A stronger pair of hands gripped my shoulders, but still I didn't budge. What was the point? Annabeth was gone, and she wasn't going to be waiting for us in the car.

I thought back to earlier this morning, when we'd sat in the back seats. Wasting our time. I wished I could go back and make the most of it.

More than that, I wanted Annabeth back.

Four hands were on me now, and I gave up fighting. Hopelessly, I allowed myself to be led back to the car. Grover had waterfalls streaming down his face, even Clarisse had puffy eyes. I knew I must look even worse. I didn't care that I was crying. My world had ended, it didn't matter. Grover pushed me into the backseat. He exchanged some words with Clarisse outside the door, and then got in the front seat. Clarisse picked a dry spot on the ground and made herself comfy. Grover clambered into the front, rubbing away his tears. I lay back onto the lumpy seat; letting the darkness obscure me.


	2. Chapter 2

**I Take A Trip Under The Sea**

I dreamed that it was Christmas Day again.

Annabeth's golden hair was draped around her shoulders. She was laughing at something that Paul Blofis had just said. Her laughter filled my head and I was content to sit there forever. Smiling in the corner was my mom. Her eyes lit up with realisation, and she dived into the kitchen. Five minutes later, she emerged with a bright blue turkey. Don't even ask me how she managed that.

I smiled at how normal it was. We could be normal people for a day. There were no monsters crashing through our front door. No crazy quests to embark upon. Annabeth and I complained about the new schools we had joined for the year. Paul Blofis tried to guess how my mom had made a turkey go blue. My mom sat and listened to me and Annabeth talking. She was smiling.

My dream world seemed to melt away, leaving just me and Annabeth.

"Happy Christmas, seaweed brain." Said Annabeth.

"You too." I smiled, and kissed her. The world disappeared, and a golden light filled the room. My body started to dissolve like it was made of liquid gold. Painfully, I was reminded of the real world, and Annabeth's death.

I woke up slightly dazed. I was lain down on the backseat. Clarisse was driving again. Grover was in the passenger's seat, chewing on a paper cup.

For a moment, I couldn't remember why I felt so empty. Then Annabeth's bag caught my eye, and my heart dropped into my stomach.

"Where are we?" I rasped. My voice was cracked and my throat was dry.

"Halfway back to camp." Clarisse replied, her voice unusually soft. Maybe it was sympathy. Maybe it was just pity.

"There's some food and drink in that bag if you want it," Grover interjected. "We stopped at a diner a few miles back but we didn't want to wake you up."

Reaching for the bag, my whole body felt like lead. I was surprised I could sit up. I forced down some of the drink. I couldn't tell what it was, but I almost gagged at how vile it tasted.

Clarisse and Grover began to argue about the directions. I couldn't see how it mattered. I reached for Annabeth's bag. She'd left it in the car. Probably not the best idea, and she'd kill me if she were here, I opened it. There wasn't much; some sandwiches, Annabeth's invisibility cap, a spare change of clothes - and a digital camera. I turned it on, and looked at the pictures. They were mainly pictures of buildings. Some of the pictures had her in them, which only made me tear up again. I was reaching the end, when I saw a photo that my mum had obviously taken, because her blue-painted fingernail obscured half the screen. But from what you could see, it was me and Annabeth, sat laughing at something.

I threw the camera back in the bag and curled up on the seat. An hour of complete silence later, Clarisse stated that the gas was running low. She pulled up the car to fill it up.

"Percy." Grover said tentatively. "Percy!"

I looked up. "What?"

"You probably don't want to talk about it yet. I get that. But when Annabeth... You know..." I couldn't believe he was trying to talk to me about it. I glared at him. He ploughed on. "Well... Didn't it... Remind you of anything?"

I stared at him blankly. Guessing games could wait for another life.

"Percy, it was like when your mom died." He managed.

Still staring at him, I tried to comprehend what he'd said. Once the words made their way to my brain, I began to understand him. My mother had been taken hostage by Hades himself to use as a bargaining chip with me. When the Minotaur had got her, she'd dissolved into thin air like a hologram, exactly like Annabeth. My heart lightened just a tiny little bit. Maybe... Just maybe, there was a possibility...

We neared camp, and my feeling of dread intensified. Would I have to tell her brothers and sisters? I caught a look at myself in the rear view mirror. I looked dreadful. I was pale white, with bags under my eyes, twigs and leaves in my hair and scratches all over my face. Looking at me, you'd think I'd been on the streets for days.

Half Blood Hill. We were there. I got out of the car and my legs turned to jelly. I held onto the door for support. Slowly, I made my way to the bottom of the hill. I needed to get to the big house. Clarisse and Grover were behind me. A crowd of new half-bloods that had just joined camp gathered around us. Whispers followed me.

"That's the guy!"

"Poseidon's son."

"Killed Kronos!"

"You can't kill a Titan you idiot."

"He doesn't look like a hero."

"He looks like he needs a shower."

"Where's the other girl?"

"I think she was his girlfriend..."

Resisting the urge to cause a tsunami and wipe them all out, I carried on walking, until I could see a house in the distance and Chiron up ahead.

Chiron's a centaur, so to put it simply: he's huge. Half majestic horse, but from the torso up, just your average human, except for how wise he looked. He's the camp's activities director. Dionysus, the God of Wine, was grounded with the punishment of being Camp Director. He hated his job. But when he helped save Olympus, he was allowed to go back. Surprisingly, he opted to stay here and carry on his job. We all know why though. Post-doomsday clean-up was much easier down here than up on Olympus.

"Percy!" He called. I refused to meet his eye. "You look dreadful! Where's..."

I couldn't do it. I took off, before anyone could stop me, past the cabins, through the strawberry fields, into the woods, hoping to be alone. But of course, I ran into one to one of the people I'd least like to see. Nico di Angelo. I didn't dislike him, but he was the son of Hades, and Hades just took Annabeth.

"Hi." He said morosely. Dark hair flopped over his pale head, longer than last time I saw him. "Sorry about Annabeth." Being a son of the underworld, he could feel when someone died. I didn't reply, and simple collapsed against the nearest tree trunk. I thought he'd go away – I'd hoped he'd go away - he kept himself to himself and was a bit of an awkward person. Persistently, he came and sat cross-legged on the ground next to me.

"I- I need to talk to you" he mumbled. A puzzled look crept over my face. He looked nervous.

"Annabeth's not dead." He said bluntly, not beating about the bush. The impact of his words hit me. I held my breath.

All I could get out was, "What?"

"I think it's like... When your mom was taken. When she... It didn't feel like when anybody else dies." This was obviously not his territory, and he looked awkward.

During the summer after sixth grade, a vicious Minotaur had attacked me, my mom and Grover on the way to camp. He got my mom and she... Evaporated in that golden form. Just like Annabeth. Hades was going to use my mom to bribe me to give back his helmet of Darkness (which I didn't have by the way.) However, no one had stolen anything this time, I'm sure, but even if they had, I couldn't be blamed - after spending my summer saving Olympus; I couldn't get further away from that place.

"What does he want?" I asked. He knew who I was talking about.

"I don't know Percy- there's... There's talk." He said. "I'm not supposed to say anything - I just needed to tell you that she can be saved."

And on that note, he took off.

Confused, I threw my head into my hands. Of course I wanted to get Annabeth back, but where the underworld was involved, it was never black and white. It was shades of grey. Nothing would be as simple as a straightforward deal - Annabeth in return for something. There'd be hidden implications, lots of fine print.

I heard a laugh from the camp in the distance; I knew I couldn't hide in the woods forever. I was about to make my way back and face the world, when a small cough sounded from the tree behind me.

Grover's girlfriend, Juniper crept from her hiding place. Anxiously, she took a step towards me. "Is Grover okay?" She asked tentatively.

"He's fine." I turned and walked away. I just wanted to be alone right now.

"Are you going to try and get her back?" She squeaked.

"Yes." I answered bluntly. Why was everyone so nosy?

She appeared in front of my again. I tried to sidestep her; she seemed persistent on blocking my path.

"Don't take Grover with you." She said. I must've looked confused, because she rushed on, "He's so busy all the time, I hardly get to see him, and if he goes with you, there's always a chance he might not..." She said this all very fast.

"I can't tell Grover what to do. Annabeth's his friend. If he wants to come, I can't stop him." I said, and stormed away as fast as possible, praying to the Gods that there weren't any more people about.

Once I was out of the woods, I took the long way round to the dining pavilion. Everyone was at dinner, so it was quiet and peaceful. As I walked through the strawberry fields, I could see some of the satyrs still playing to the plants to encourage growth. Further on, the climbing wall and canoe course were empty and silent. Just past them were cabins for the campers. Before last year, there had been twelve, one for each God. The cabins all represented their God. Peeling red paint on the Ares cabin, seaweed draped over rocks on Poseidon's - you get the idea. Being the only son of the Sea God, I slept alone in my cabin, apart from when my half-brother Tyson, (a Cyclops) came to stay.

But last year, however, when Olympus was in ruins, the Gods had held a council to reward me for my war efforts - they said they could make me immortal. Surprising even myself, I declined, but I made sure that I got something out of them. I got them to promise that they'd claim all their kids, and that we could build cabins for the minor Gods, like Nemesis, the god of revenge. They still hadn't completely finished yet. Hades' had been erected first; a dark, shadowy cabin that looked like it'd been built with smoke. Just walking past it made me feel depressed.

Past the cabins was the campfire. Right now it was only dimly lit - attending to it was the Goddess of the Hearth, Hestia. She was probably the nicest Goddess I've ever met. I gave her a sad smile.

I climbed the pavilion stairs. Slowly, as my head came into view. The chatter died down, with many 'Shh!'s. Head hung low, I stepped in.

"Well, look who's decided to grace us with his presence." Boomed the Camp Director, Mr. D. He was a chubby man with curly black hair, wearing a tiger striped Hawaiian shirt.

I didn't even bother to retaliate. Mentally coming up with ways to kill Dionysus, I headed through the whispers that were being thrown across the room. Grabbing a plate, I rushed up to the fire, scraped some food into it, and got back to my seat. I tried to eat something, but the food tasted like cardboard scratching against my throat.

Mr. D cleared his throat. "Chiron tells me I have to welcome you brats back, so there you go." He said, his voice echoing in the silence. "There will be a cabin inspection at four tomorrow, and a chariot race will be held two Thursdays from now. Also, due to, uh, circumstances, Annabelle Chase was recently taken in battle. Someone will have to make a shroud."

Anger welled up from my chest. Dionysus had always stubbornly insisted on getting everyone's names wrong, but was now the moment? Couldn't he at least have a little respect?

After dinner, I headed straight to my cabin. I wasn't intending to stay there. My head was hurting from the mixture of emotions I was feeling up there - pain, anger, sadness. I grabbed a towel, and headed for the beach.

Curfew was soon, and if I broke it, I would literally be eaten alive by the harpies. But the ocean made me feel calm. Waves lapped against the sand, and my brain wandered to Annabeth. I found myself just imagining her, walking towards me on the beach, looking angry, because I'd done something idiotic...

It took me a few moments to realise that I either had an extremely vivid imagination, or what I was seeing was real. My heart skipped a beat. Was I imagining things? As the distance between us lessened, my new feeling of weightlessness turned to the exact opposite. Marching towards me was not Annabeth - it was her mother.

Athena looked extraordinarily like Annabeth; the same blonde hair, grey eyes. But something, I couldn't quite put my finger on what, made them different. Perhaps it was the way that Athena looked at me as if I was a sea urchin she'd accidentally stepped on barefooted. Terror filled my body. I wasn't afraid of the Gods, but Athena was the exception. Unlike Ares, for example, she wouldn't act rashly and lash out. She'd carefully plan exactly how to get her revenge and she would stop at nothing for it. I hadn't had much one on one contact with her. The few times I had, all she had told me was to stay away from her daughter. I don't think that really worked out. Maybe that was why she looked like she was devising a plan to drop me into Tartarus.

"So I returned to Olympus today, Perseus Jackson, only to find that my daughter, who I explicitly warned you not to mess with, is dead." She announced. As if it was _my _fault. It felt like it was, but I was pretty sure it wasn't, if that makes any sense.

She didn't seem upset, more angry, as if I had planned this. "I knew it." She said, talking more to herself now than me. "Poseidon and Athena - it would never work. And you!" She spat at me, "Next time I tell you to stay away from my children, you'd better listen!"

She stormed away down the beach. She then did something very strange. She marched into the water, and submerged herself completely. I thought maybe Athena was losing her touch as Goddess of Wisdom. Glad as I was that she was gone, I wondered what she'd come here for. It seemed like a long trip to tell me that. And when a God wanted to make a dramatic exit, they could do much more than walk into the sea. What did she want in the ocean?

In the distance, I could see the light from the campfire fading, and I knew the campfire was over. The harpies would be coming soon, devouring any snack they came across. I headed back to my cabin.  
I lay on my bed. Tomorrow, I would go and talk to Chiron, and ask for a quest. I was going to get Annabeth back. But as I closed my eyes, my head flooded with thoughts about how hopeless this would be. 

Dark, grey clouds filled the sky the next morning. Resisting the urge to sprint, I made my way to Chiron. The kids from Aphrodite stared at me as I passed, then erupted in whispers. Gossiping was a favourite pastime of theirs, meaning I was a gold mine right now: would I save Annabeth? Did I like anyone else? And of course, the fact that they knew I was on my way to see Rachel.

Rachel was the oracle at camp. Originally she'd been my friend, and saved my life a couple of times. Her and Annabeth... Not so much. They didn't like each other. No, wait, that's an understatement. Annabeth hated her guts. Funnily enough, as soon as Annabeth and I started dating, Annabeth seemed to hate her less. I wonder why?

Chiron was teaching an archery class to the Apollo kids. Effortlessly, they could each hit moving targets with pinpoint precision. I waited just out of sight until the class had finished. The campers strolled off, not a care in the world. Broken clay models of pigeons littered the floor.

"Before you ask, Percy: no." Said a voice from behind me. Towering above me, stood Chiron, looking at me regretfully.

I gulped. "No?"

"No. We can't risk the lives of other campers just to save one. I know you miss her," his eyes looked a little sadder. "But I can't allow it. I'm sorry."

My blood was boiling. Chiron had been like a father to Annabeth; now suddenly she wasn't 'worth the risk'. I didn't even care if anyone else came. I just needed to go.

"But," I had so many points I wanted to argue, but I couldn't quite form them in my mouth. "I can't just leave her." I choked, my eyes welling up. I don't think I'd ever cried so much in my life than over the past two days.

"If I gave you permission, it would be unfair. Think of everyone the other campers have lost. Silena, Beckendorf, Luke, Bianca. Once someone is gone, Percy, it is best that they stay that way."

I made an angry noise that may have sounded something like "Huurrrghhh." Indignantly, I marched off, putting as much distance as possible between myself and Chiron. I didn't need permission anyway. I could go to the Oracle. Mr. D wouldn't mind, he'd already let me sneak off once before - now I think of it, that was to save Annabeth too.

_Hey boss! What's up with you man? You don't look too good._

Blackjack, my pegasi was nudging at the stable doors trying to get out. Since my dad made horses, they all seemed to like me. I could understand what they were saying, their voices bounced around my head. Blackjack in particular had developed an attachment to me, since I ever so slightly helped in freeing him from the Princess Andromeda.

_Hey, you didn't by any chance bring me some of those new apples from the stables with the hot mares did ya?_

"No, sorry." I considered him. "Make sure you're ready for if we need... An emergency getaway, okay Blackjack?"

_You got it, boss. You need to go, I'm there. Just make sure ya bring some of them sugar cubes for the journey. _

I nodded. Turning the corner, I bumped into a very tall man. He had on Bermuda shorts, a Hawaiian shirt and sandals. Tanned, a neatly trimmed beard and black hair. Smile crinkles surrounded his eyes that matched mine exactly - sea green.

"Percy." My father said. Each time he saw me, he had a warmer look in his eyes. When he'd first met me, he'd seemed unsure of me. Now he seemed... Proud, maybe. Or perhaps that's just my wishful thinking. "Will you take a walk with me?" Intimidated, I nodded. He may be my dad, but that never stopped me from being scared out of my wits near him. I constantly felt like he might turn me into a dolphin or something. I followed him to the beach. He walked straight into the surf, and waded into the water. When he was in to his waist, he paused and turned to me as if to check I was coming. Hastily, I jogged behind him.

He led me straight down, past the big drop where the sea turns into a dark abyss of the unknown. I can breathe underwater, and I don't get wet unless I want to. A salty scent filled my nostrils. Where he was leading me to, I didn't know, but I could give you the exact bearings of where we were. Don't ask me how. A brightly coloured school of fish swam by me.

Further and further down, we eventually reached a cave the size of a small house. Not your average cave, though. Torches blazed underwater, lighting the place up, and an exquisite dining table, encrusted with emeralds and sapphires was centred inside the cave. It wasn't the underwater palace, I'd been there before. Perhaps it was a holiday home type thing - somewhere he could stay when he needed to contact camp.

At the dining table sat two people I knew by face, not by name. "Percy, you know my wife, Amphitrite? And my son, Triton." Both of them surveyed me with absolute disgust. From what I gathered on my last visit, Amphitrite saw me as a reminder of her husband's affair with Sally Jackson, and Triton just didn't like me. Something stirred in my memory, from when I'd been in the car with Annabeth. She'd been talking about Lamia, and she'd said something about how Triton had fathered Scylla with Lamia. Scylla had tried to kill me a few years back. Also, Triton had foster-parented Athena. Trying to get this straight in my mind, I worked out that: I was dating my half-brother's foster grandchild, who was murdered by his ex, with whom he fathered a child that tried to kill me.

Gee, I wonder what it's like to have a normal family?

"Come, Triton." Ordered Amphitrite. They left the room, leaving my dad to sit at the table and put his head in his hands. I waited for him to say something.

"Why Athena, Percy?" He asked. I stared blankly. I had no clue what he was talking about. Running his hands through his hair, he said "All the girls from Aphrodite, Apollo, even Ares, and you chose the one that's given Athena an excuse to bite my head off."

Well this was... Beyond awkward. I practically never saw my dad, and here he was talking to me about my dead girlfriend. I mumbled something, but even I wasn't quite sure what it was. Poseidon didn't seem to hear.

"I've brought you here, Percy, to talk about your quest."

"Um... Chiron said I couldn't go."

"Nonsense. Chiron doesn't know the half of the situation."

I stared, confused. Apparently, I only knew half the situation, because I didn't see how Annabeth dying wasn't the full situation here.

"You'll be going on this quest Percy. I've had everyone complaining. Athena came down here to tell me that if her daughter was not returned from there, she'd get her revenge. Aphrodite's been on my back as well... Something about the best love story of the millennium. Hermes is pushing for you to go - but I think he just wants the spotlight off himself after Luke's little... Ah, mess up." By mess up, he meant destroying Olympus and the Gods, and reinstating the Titans rule. "And... I need your help."

My eyes widened. There was a surprise.

"It would seem, Hades doesn't believe he got full credit for his effort in the war. He's angry at his lot. He's been sending up different servants of the underworld, and attacking my domain. Personally, I can't go down there without an invitation, which I doubt I will receive. I need you to go down there. I'm sure no one would object to you taking a detour to find your friend."

I filled up with pride. My dad had needed my help, and I could save Annabeth. Could it get any better?

He continued. "You will try to reason with Hades-"

"Reason with Hades?" I asked weakly. That would be like trying to get on with Clarisse. Utterly hopeless.

"Yes, try to make him see sense. I would've invited him up here to discuss it, but the way he's attacking my kingdom made me think twice. We're willing to offer him more time on Mount Olympus or..." He trailed off, deep in thought. He sighed. "So, do you accept the quest?"

"Um... Yes." I replied, thrown by the question.

"Excellent. You'd better get back to camp, consult the Oracle. And tell Chiron about the change in plans." Turning, I slowly walked away. Just as my hand reached for the door, Poseidon called "And Percy... Be careful."

By the time I got back, the sun was setting. I didn't fancy telling Chiron about the quest in front of the whole camp in the pavilion. Deciding that I'd skip dinner, I headed down to the big house. It was a sky blue building that used to have a mummy in the attic. Believe me, it was terrifying. Now Rachel was the Oracle, she preferred to live in places where the sun shone. I climbed the stairs and knocked on Rachel's door. It flung open, and she appeared in the frame, her face splattered with paint. She liked art. She was a tall, slim girl with frizzy red hair and green eyes.

"Hey Percy!" She said.

"Um, hey." If Annabeth knew I was here, she'd probably drag me down to the underworld herself.

"I'm guessing you're not just here to visit."

"No, I kind of need a prophecy. What's the deal with that now, by the way? Do I just ask or...?" I asked. Consulting the Oracle didn't used to include a conversation. I suppose it could, but it'd be extremely one sided.

"Honestly, Percy, I don't know, no one's really needed one y-" She froze. Her eyes looked empty. Wondering if I should run for Chiron, I asked tentatively, "Rachel?"

"Three will travel to the dead man's world,  
Searching for the soul of the wisest girl.

A story of love and war entwined.  
One will desert, for fear of what's behind.

The plan will fail,  
True love prevails.

Misfortune is cast upon the Rising Sun,  
Unable to return the imprisoned one."

She fell back onto her bed. In hindsight, it probably would have been polite to help her up, but I was too excited. Shaking, I replied "Thanks." Without waiting for a reply, I bounded off to find Chiron.

I could go on the quest. There was a chance of saving Annabeth. The last line of the prophecy, however, gave me shivers. It couldn't be true. Maybe… maybe Rachel said it wrong. _Sure_, I thought. As if that could happen. Nevertheless, I had to try. I found Chiron, and told him that we had to hold an emergency council. When I refused to tell him why, he looked wary, but he organised it all the same.

When each of the cabin leaders was gathered around a table in the Big House, I stood up. Chiron eyed me tiredly; as if predicting what I was going to say.

"Chiron, I need a quest." I announced. He sighed.

"Percy, I have already given you my answer, it has n-"

"But this is different. My father told me I had to do this." Chiron hesitated, and I rushed on. "Hades has been attacking the sea or something, and because the Gods can't travel to the underworld without an invitation, I have to go. I've already been to the Oracle."

Eyebrow raised, Chiron asked "And what did she say?" I recited the prophecy. Sniggers erupted from the other cabin leaders whenever the word 'love' made its way into the prophecy, but I didn't care. As I got to the last line, I hastily changed it to 'And they will save the imprisoned one.' Sure, it didn't really fit with the rest; but I'm not really a poet. Chiron would see right through it, but no one would agree to come if it was sure to fail.

Chiron eyed me suspiciously. "Well, you'd better pick your two accomplices, then." He said reluctantly. I think he knew that I had no interest whatsoever in the Gods business.

I looked around the table, sizing up the other campers. Almost every quest I had gone on, Annabeth had been right by my side, volunteering from the start. I had to do this without her.

Standing up in the corner was Grover. That made me feel ten times better. He had come with me on my first trip to the underworld - having him there would make it easier. Juniper's words from yesterday swam to the front of my mind. I dismissed them.

"You sure Grover?" He nodded resolutely.

I stared at the rest of the people at the table. It occurred to me that I hardly knew any of them. Over the years, I'd been betrayed by people who'd sat here - Luke, Silena... Only one person was at the table that I could say I trusted. One person who was so bluntly honest that I knew I could rely on them.

"Clarisse?" I asked. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"_Me_? You want _me_ to come. Have you hit your head?"

Trustworthy though she may be, if we made it to the underworld without killing each other first, I'd be very surprised. She eyed me suspiciously, as though this was a trick. I didn't want to give my reasons to the whole table, so I just said "Well?"

She considered. "I suppose..."

"Well you'd all better go and get ready." Chiron announced. "You can leave in the morning." He left the room. I could tell he wasn't very happy with this. As everyone else filed out, I looked at Clarisse and Grover. Immediately, you could tell what was missing from this trio - brains. 

That night, I dreamt of the Underworld.  
"He is coming... He is coming..." Whispered a cold, raspy voice. Suddenly, I realised it was my cold raspy voice. Or I was looking through someone else's eyes. I descended into the dungeons. Annabeth was laid on a small bed with a ragged blanket lay on top of her. Her eyes were closed but her chest was moving up and down slowly. I wanted to stay, but the person whose brain I was in had other plans. They carried on further down, to a circular chamber. Candles cast an eerie glow around the room. Hanging from the ceiling were chains, draping themselves around the room. In the middle of the room there was a desk, littered with paper. I crept towards it. Almost there... Footsteps echoed around the damp walls. Someone was coming.

I sat upright in my bunk. Sweating, I wondered how I was going to ever get to the Underworld tomorrow without any sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**We Enter The Underworld Through The Garbage**

Getting to the underworld was relatively easy because Nico had given us directions to a shortcut. There were other entrances closer to camp, but Hades had them guarded because _someone_ (and that someone was most certainly not me) kept getting in. It was a twelve hour drive, which meant twelve hours with Grover and Clarisse arguing over directions.

"You were supposed to turn there!"

"No I wasn't, it says left on the NEXT exit!"

"NO, it said the last one! That's why we've not passed this road yet!"

"Just shut up goat boy, I don't end your help!"

Ignoring them, I thought about the prophecy.

'Three will travel to the dead man's world,  
Searching for the soul of the wisest girl.'

Obviously, I thought. The wisest girl was Annabeth, her mother being Goddess of Wisdom and all.

'A story of love and war entwined.'

War was Hades and Olympus, I suppose, and love was... Well.

'One will desert, for fear of what's behind.'

This one got me. Surely if you're afraid of what's behind, you go forward? I looked at Clarisse and Grover in the front. One of them would leave - I was sure as hell it wasn't me.

'The plan will fail,  
True love prevails'

If true love prevailed, I had to hope that it didn't matter if the plan failed. As of yet, though, we didn't really have a plan.

'Misfortune is cast upon the Rising Sun,  
Unable to return the imprisoned one.'

Who knows what the part about the rising sun meant. Despite the fact that the prophecies were never wrong, I made a silent promise to myself that I would not fail.

Twelve tedious hours later, we clambered out of the car. Grover was wearing his human costume, but he was also eating an empty bottle, which slightly ruined the illusion. Clarisse wore her armour, despite my arguments that this would get us spotted from a mile away. Compared to them, I looked perfectly normal. Hanging on my shoulders was a backpack. In it was some change of clothes, Annabeth's invisibility cap, and a LOT of food. Chiron had the idea - we didn't how long we'd be looking for Annabeth, and the story of Persephone warned us that the food down there could not be taken to go.

Nico's directions led us to a dark alleyway, with a garbage can that had been chained shut. Graffiti was sprayed all over the walls – the kind that looks like actual artwork. It depicted an image of Cerberus, the three headed dog that guarded the entrance to the underworld.

"So, uh, what do we do?" asked Grover. It came to my attention that I probably should have asked Nico that.

"Move out of the way." ordered Clarisse. Obediently, we sidestepped her, and she unclipped a key from we armour. When she opened it, the rotten smell of the thrown out takeaway cartons filled our noses. Doubtfully, I wondered whether this could really be an entrance to the mighty underworld.

"You first Jackson." Clarisse barked.

"Into the garbage?" I asked, bewildered.

"Obviously!"

"So you can lock me in? No way! Ladies first!" I gestured to the garbage mockingly.

"Oh, I'll go." said Grover. To him, it was an all you can eat buffet. Hoisting himself up, he took a deep breath, and jumped in. When he didn't say anything, I peered into the can - he was gone. I looked at Clarisse, she motioned to me to get in. Feeling that if I didn't then she'd snap my neck, I reluctantly dropped in.

First of all, if you think diving into a trash can smells bad, try diving into the underworld. The strong smell of sulphur overwhelmed me; along with the scent of rotting corpses, left for billions of years. It was a long drop - there was no way we could survive it. Thankfully, I could hear Grover playing his pipes just below me, hopefully providing us with a soft landing. I fell onto the ground with a thud. However mossy Grover had made the ground, it still hurt. _Thanks for the warning, Nico, _I thought. Hastily, I scrambled out of the way. Clarisse landed ungracefully. After I'd checked she was alright, I turned to look at the room we were in.

Shivers ran down my spine.

We were in a circular cave. I uncapped Riptide to give us more light. A giant chasm opened up from the floor, falling into an endless void of nothingness. Radiating from the hole was a dark power, bringing out the most evil thoughts in my head, making me want to jump in.

"C'mon." I said. Jerking out of his trance, Grover carried on walking cautiously around the pit. Last time we were here, he'd almost been dragged in there. Pulling Clarisse along slightly, because she had a very hungry look in her eye, we followed Grover out.

We entered the worlds weirdest garden. Plants grew in the wrong shapes and sizes. They glowed ever so slightly, giving the place an eerie look. Victims of Medusa were scattered all around. With the sun deprived plants, and the centaurs, satyrs and humans frozen grotesquely, it was all kind of depressing, making the orchard in the middle looked like Eden. The trees glimmered, even in the dim light, bright orange blooms illuminating the garden.

Past the orchard, though covering the walls were tablets portraying horrible images of death. Murder and massacre were displayed like decorations around the place.

We were in Hades' garden.

Bearing weapons and sporting uniforms from all different time periods, were skeletons, guarding the doors to Hades' palace by the huge black columns. They didn't trouble us as we went in, which I found suspicious.

We entered a room the size of a football field. I could see everything; but it seemed so dark I was surprised that I could. Catching my reflection in the gleaming bronze floor, I noticed I looked terrified, so I straightened up.

Sitting on a throne of fused human bones was a man dressed in black silk robes. His crown looked like it was woven out of gold, perched on his shoulder length jet black hair. His skin was paper white (just what you'd expect from living underground).

Next to Lord Hades, was a beautiful woman, with chocolate brown eyes and black curly hair. She wore a dress that looked like it'd once been colourful, but had been washed out. I recognised her as Queen Persephone.

Hades looked me right in the eye. "You dare enter my domain again?" he boomed. His voice reverberated around the cave walls.

"Um..." Hades' aura made the whole situation feel completely wrong, like a dog training its master. It made me feel like I should just bow down and apologise for bothering him.

"What reason do you have for trespassing here?" he demanded. Pointedly, Persephone cleared her throat behind him.

We've come on behalf of Poseidon..." My voice faltered under his stare. Cut me some slack. The guy was a freaking God, and he looked just about ready to pulverise me. I probably would have just sat there 'Um'ing and 'Ah'ing all day, but Clarisse kicked me in the shin; I forced myself to look him in the eye. "He wants you to stop attacking him. He said he'd be willing to negotiate... Stuff." _Stuff. Well done Percy._

_Where's Annabeth?_ I was dying to ask. _What have you done with Annabeth?_ I would happily just get her and leave this place. The sea could swallow itself up and she'd still be my top priority. But it was too late now; I was going to have to represent Poseidon.

"Attacking Poseidon? What are you talking about boy?"

Admittedly, I had no clue. How do you attack the sea? Hades looked just as confused as me, which was disconcerting because a confused Hades is not a good Hades.

"Um, sending up monsters and stuff?" I needed to take control of the conversation, but he was radiating power that made me feel like a naughty kid, and Hades was the strictest teacher in school.

"Preposterous!" He exclaimed. "Ever since YOU, Percy Jackson, started causing trouble I have had unfair accusations thrown on me left, right, and centre. Automatically, I am to blame when anything bad happens!" He ranted.

"But... But sending a monster up is something only you can do, right?"

"No monsters have been sent up to your world! I have informants who tell me when my servants are missing! As much as I would love to visit your happy sunshine filled world, I have a full time job down here, with the dead, which my brothers so gracefully bestowed upon me!" Looking like he was going to rip me to shreds, he advanced forward as if preparing to pounce, but Persephone put her hand on his arm. Unwillingly, he fell back onto his chair of skulls. In the back of my mind, I couldn't help but to ponder how painful it would be if one of those elbow bones decided to stand a little more vertically, and got you right in the place no one wants to get poked by the decaying remnants of a human body. As much as I was scared to death and was fighting every impulse in my anatomy to get the hell out of there, I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Hades. You'd probably be bitter too, if you were forced to spend all of your time with skeletons, and your wife left you for six months a year. Then I remembered who he was holding in his prison cells, and my empathy disappeared as quickly as it came. He took a deep breath, and looked me straight in the eye. "However, you, have come here of free will, and I am completely within my rights to take you hostage."

"There is no need-" interrupted Persephone.

"No arguments!" screamed Hades, regaining a demented look in his eye, making him look even more terrifying than before. Taking in another deep breath, he said, (as calmly as you can sound you're your voice shaking) "This boy has harried me for long enough." Clicking his fingers, he stared at me cruelly.

Guards cornered us – we were surrounded. I drew Riptide; suddenly jealous of Clarisse's heavy armour. But it was hopeless. Their scythes and rifles and bayonets would easily beat us. Plus, the fact that they were immortal might've given them an unfair advantage. We were outnumbered. Carelessly, a skeleton grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the room. I could hear Clarisse screaming and kicking behind me. Grover was silent, resigned to the fact that we'd been caught. We were ushered out of the room, Hades' cold eyes fixed on us as we left.

They marched us down through twisting tunnels dimly lit by flickering blue lanterns. We turned a corner into a long tunnel that reeked of rotting corpses. Over a hundred entrances to small caverns lined the left side of the wall, with bars constructed using alternate stalactites and stalagmites over the entrances. Two skeletons stood on guard of each of the caverns, even if there was nothing in them. They all had symbols of oppressors and dictators sewn onto their arms, and didn't flinch in the slightest when we were led past them. I caught glimpse inside some of the caverns. Some were dusty and deserted, whereas some had monsters in – some that looked dangerously like Medusa, some that looked like they could be Cerberus's puppies, if that was possible. Horrible realisation struck me – we were in the prison of the underworld.

The skeleton who had hold of my arm, wearing a soldiers uniform with the Nazi symbol sewn onto the sleeve, clicked his bones and the ground shook; rocks fell from the ceiling as if it was about to cave in. Three of the stalactites retracted into the cave ceiling and three stalagmites forced their way back into the ground, allowing us entrance to the cell. They shoved us through, and the skeleton clicked his fingers again, locking us in.

Inside was fairly spacious; there were a few poorly made beds and a small bowl of water. Bones of small animals littered the floor. What got my attention though, was the shaking girl crouched in the corner.

We were in a pretty bad situation, but that didn't stop a big grin creeping across my face. "Annabeth!" I ran over and crouched down next to her. Our eyes met; she looked at me disbelievingly. Drinking in her existence, I asked "Are you okay?" (Probably an obvious question, but you know.)

"Of course, seaweed brain. Took you long enough to get here." I let out a sigh, smiling from ear to ear. If she'd have actually thanked me for coming to rescue her, I'd have been seriously concerned about her health and sanity. Still, her voice was cracked and dry. Her face looked paper white and her hair was strewn all over her face. Gently, I pushed away the grey streak of hair that covered her eye. We both had one, a reminder of the time we'd carried the weight of the sky- literally.

Helping her up onto the bed, I realised how thin she looked. "You need to eat." I ordered, as I opened up my backpack. It was packed full of stuff they feed us at camp – nuts, cheeses, fruit. None of the stuff that Annabeth needed; we needed to get to a greasy fat food restaurant, and fast. "Chiron packed us food to feed an army, so you can take your pick." I offered.

"Woah, wait!" piped up Clarisse from behind. I'd forgotten she and Grover were there altogether, but they were standing in the corner, Grover awkwardly poking at a rat's skull on the floor. "We need to ration this out, we don't know how long we're going to be down here, and I am NOT eating any pomegranates."

I looked at her disbelievingly. "Clarisse, she's starving."

"And we will be too, if we're not careful!"

I would have argued back, but Annabeth put her hand on my arm. "It's okay." She croaked.

Clarisse looked at her pitifully. She tossed her an apple. I groped around the bag for my water bottle. The bowl on the floor was untouched; thank the gods, because I'm not sure about the underworlds policy about drinking its water and getting out alive. I handed it to Annabeth; Clarisse gave me a look. "It's mine." I said pointedly. Annabeth gulped it down.

"So!" said Grover. "Any bright ideas on getting out of here?"

"You can't." Annabeth stated.

"Sure we can." said Clarisse. "We dig an escape tunnel with some spoons." Grover and I smirked, but Annabeth raised an eyebrow sceptically. "It's impossible. They have those skeleton guards on every entrance and exit. We're being watched 24/7. There is no way out"

"I'm loving your optimism." I said sarcastically.

"I'm not trying to- I'm just being realistic!"

"Whatever." I said, pulling her into a hug. I felt like I'd not seen her in ages, when in reality it had been a few days. It was funny, we couldn't stand each other, but I couldn't live without her. She rested her head on my shoulder. I could have sat here forever. Lucky, too, as it looked like I was going to.

"Well, if we're being guarded, looks like we're safe from any monster attacks." Said Grover. "I say we make the most of that and get as much sleep in as possible. We can discuss escape routes in the morning – whenever that is down here."

"There are only three beds." observed Clarisse. "Well, we can't have you two sharing." She aimed at me and Annabeth. "Looks like we'll have to draw straws on the floor spot."

"Sure Clarisse," I retaliated. "I have lots of imaginary straws."

"You got a better idea, Jackson?"

After plenty of arguments, we decided that: Annabeth would have the best bed, Clarisse (being the fragile, weak girl that she is) insisted on another, and Grover would have the last one, as sleeping on the ground gave him a backache. I knew this wasn't true, being a Satyr, and _Lord of the Wild_, I'm sure he'd spent many nights on the floor. He just didn't like the bones that cluttered the cold hard stone. Before I curled up on my rock bed, I pulled Annabeth's invisibility cap from my bag and gave it to her. Her eyes lit up. She felt safer with this thing. "Thanks." She said. I smiled, and proceeded to the most uncomfortable night of my life.


	4. Chapter 4

**Nico Pays Bail For A Quarter Of Us**

Who knows how long I slept, because when I opened my eyes, it was just as dark as when I had lain down. Grover's snores filled the room, and Clarisse and Annabeth were still asleep. I stood up and surveyed the walls. Looking around, I tried to formulate an escape route. I got nowhere.

The walls all around us were solid stone. It would take us billions of years to even make a dent. Closing us in were the stalactites and stalagmites. They weren't made of stone like usual, but out of some sticky green substance, and they looked pretty hard to break. If we could get through them, there'd be ten immortal skeletons on us in a second. I hate to admit it, but Annabeth was right. We were trapped.

I tried to look at the positives of the situation. We had Annabeth. No one was hurt… That was about it.

What was Hades talking about? Surely he knew about attacking the Sea… He had every reason to lie. But somewhere in my gut, I had the feeling not everything was as it seemed. Trying to make sense of it all in my head, I stepped up to the bars on our cage. The guards didn't move at all; I would have thought they were statues, but I wasn't that naive.

"Percy." Turning around, I saw Annabeth sitting up on her bed, shaking slightly. I could try and tell her to sit down and rest, but I knew it'd be useless, so I just walked over and sat next to her.

"Pretty hopeless, isn't it?"

"We'll get out." I said. "I promise."

"I shouldn't have thrown that knife. It would never have worked." She said regretfully.

"Hey, if you hadn't, I doubt any of us would have gotten out alive."

"How did you know I wasn't dead?"

"I could just feel it." I said. She raised an eyebrow sceptically. "And Nico told me." She laughed.

"What are we going to do Percy?" she asked. I looked her in the eye.

"Hey." I said, slipping my hand into hers. "We're going to get out. We've been in worse situations than this. Look on the bright side – eternity in a cell with Clarisse." She laughed, a real laugh that I'd not heard for a while, filling me with hope. She put her head on my shoulder, and we stayed like that, maybe for a minute, an hour, or even a day, I didn't know or care.

Being unable to tell the time made the whole thing worse. We were bored, hungry, and thirsty (Clarisse was in charge of controlling the food.) and we had no way of telling if we'd been here for weeks or hours.

We suggested escape routes, but half-heartedly, knowing that someone would just shoot down our ideas. Grover cleaned the floor. Clarisse practiced her swordplay with herself, slashing at thin air. I sat cross-legged on the floor; Annabeth lay with her head on my lap. She threw an apple into the air and caught it. I played with her hair. Sometimes she'd drop the apple, and Clarisse would give her an evil stare, warning her that she'd be eating it. When this is the highlight of your day; you know you're bored.

Clarisse occasionally whispered a prayer to her father, asking for help. Unsurprisingly, it never came. Hopelessly, she gave up and put her head on the wall. Admittedly, Clarisse was brave. So brave in fact, that I sometimes forgot that she missed people too. Chris Rodriguez was waiting for her at camp. Hating to admit it to myself, and making a silent oath never to say it out loud, Clarisse was my friend.

Sometime later on, a skeleton guard banged on our cell. We froze. Clarisse drew her sword. Out of the shadows, a familiar figure emerged. Pushing the dark hair out of his pale face, Nico di Angelo stood before us.

Clicking his fingers in the same way as the skeletons, he opened up the cell, and stepped right in. Regrettably, it closed behind him. "So are you going to explain how you got sent down here?" he asked. He nodded at Annabeth. I proceeded to explain everything. Annabeth listened curiously – it had just occurred to me that I'd not told her how we'd got here.

"You can get us out right?" asked Clarisse.

"Ah." Said Nico. "Well, I talked to my dad about that. He said I could take one of you."

"One? What use is that?" demanded Clarisse.

"Well, that's kind of what I came down here about." He turned to Grover. "There's something going on back at camp. Nothing serious," he added, seeing the looks on our faces. "It's just, to cut a long story short, they're chopping Juniper's tree down."

Grover looked horrified. I thought back to when Juniper had asked me to stop Grover from coming with us – suddenly, I felt a twinge of guilt. Maybe this was the real reason.

"But-" spluttered Grover, "- but that's her life force! She'll die!"

"Well yeah." Said Nico. "She's not the only one either. Basically, they need the Lord of the Wild."

Grover looked at us guiltily. He began "I…"

"Go man. Save the trees and stuff." I said, managing a smile. If it had been the other way around, I would have gone without a second thought.

"I'm sorry." said Nico, talking to us now. "If I could take you all I would – but he'd notice. I'll tell them what's happened to you when I get back to camp." He hesitated, and dropped his voice to a whisper. "I'll distract the guards on the way out. I can get you a few minutes. Then you're on your own." I nodded. Hastily, I grabbed my backpack. Clarisse re-adjusted her armour. Annabeth put on her invisibility cap, and grabbed my hand. Holding tightly, I promised myself I would not lose her again.

Nico opened the cell, and stepped out with Grover. Conveniently forgetting to shut the door behind himself, he carried on down the corridor. The guards were so fixed on whatever they were looking at that they didn't even check the door. As Nico reached a cell a few doors down, he surreptitiously clicked his fingers again.

Emerging from the cell two doors from us was from the shoulders down, effectively, a colossal crocodile, with longer legs. From the shoulders up, however, was nine giant serpent heads; complete with horns and spikes. It looked like it belonged underwater; its webbed skin looked like a helmet on its many heads.

"The Lernaean Hydra!" Annabeth screamed out of nowhere. _Thanks Annabeth,_ I thought, _that means absolutely nothing to me._

I took my opportunity. As the guards ran to try and contain the beast, with Annabeth's invisible arm in one hand and grabbing Clarisse with the other, I jerked them out of their trances and dragged them along the corridor. One skeleton guard had noticed us, and was marching towards us. Reluctantly, I dropped Annabeth's hand and drew Riptide.

Bones rattling, he drew a sword, or perhaps it was a very long bone. I swung, and he blocked easily. If he was human, I could easily beat him. But whenever my sword found its mark it simply clanged against the skeletons bones.

Beyond him, I could see the Hydra snapping at the skeletons. They were advancing on it – and in one big sigh, it breathed fire, incinerating them all, crumbling them to rubble. In the back of my mind, I remembered Nico's words: 'I'll _distract_ the guards.'

However, I still had one skeleton guard on me, and I was slowly letting my guard down.

"Percy! Chop him up!" shouted Clarisse. _Lovely_, I thought, but I obediently severed his head, and also the area that would hurt a lot if he had a proper body.

Clarisse pushed me aside and kicked the pile of bones towards the Hydra. Immediately, it turned them into a pile of ash. Nico was standing at the opposite end of the corridor with Grover. "You've got about five minutes until backup comes." He called. "Good luck."


	5. Chapter 5

**We Find Hades' Bedroom**

Sure, Nico might have bought us some time, but we had a giant Hydra in the way of our exit. "Percy!" An invisible hand dragged me out of the way of a massive fireball shot straight from the beast's mouth. Clarisse had dived out of the way just in time, the ends of her hair singed off. Annabeth took off her invisibility cap. With five minutes, it seemed impossible that we'd get out alive.

Clarisse and I moved forward, yielding our swords. Unwillingly, we came within reach of its mouths – Hydra breath is _not _nice. Its third head came flying at me, and I dived just in time, but its fifth head met me at the ground and I had to roll away, to where its second head was waiting for me. My sword was about as helpful as a twig. If I tried to aim at it, it turned the attack against me. Obviously, it was playing with us; its eighth head taunted Clarisse by tossing fireballs at her. "Hey Annabeth, any time you want to tell us how to kill this thing would be great!" screamed Clarisse.

Annabeth put on her cap. From somewhere behind me, she shouted back, "Cut off its heads!"

Clarisse dived forwards. It lunged towards her with its seventh head. She sidestepped it, and slashed through its neck.

"Be careful, it's poisonous!" warned Annabeth. Its severed head rolled by Clarisse's foot, black goo oozing from its neck.

_Okay, one down, eight to go_, I thought, as I jumped away from its first head. We must've had about four minutes left. This was going to be possible. At least that's what I hoped.

From the stump where the Hydra's head used to be before Clarisse had beheaded it, sprouted two new ones, ever so slightly bigger than the last one. Immediately, they dived at Clarisse, who panicked and lashed out.

Stupidly, Clarisse started slashing at nothing in particular. Anytime she found her mark, the heads she removed would multiply, each stronger and cleverer than the last. Dragging her away, I screamed "Clarisse, that plan isn't working!"

"What do you suggest?" she shouted back.

"You have to burn the stumps before they grow back!" Annabeth had appeared behind us.

"We don't have any fire!" said Clarisse.

"Sure we do. You two just deal with chopping off the heads." She stuffed her cap back on. I looked at Clarisse and shrugged, moving towards the Hydra. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see someone invisible moving in our cell. The bed posts were sawing away at themselves. After a large piece had been broken off, Annabeth appeared to my left, and started screaming to get the monsters attention. Effortlessly, it produced a fireball that came whizzing past us – we dodged just in time, but Annabeth kept her hand held out. The post of the bed caught fire. I understood the plan. I motioned to Clarisse that we needed to go forward. I swung my sword at one of the Hydra's heads. It came clean off. The piece of burning wood came floating towards me; I sidestepped it and it pressed itself against the Hydra's neck.

We rushed to do this to the rest of the heads. After a little time, the fire was burning low, but luckily we only had one left. Unfortunately, this seemed to be the cleverest one.

Down the corridor, we heard the distant clattering of skeletons on their way. By the sound of it, there was way too many to overcome.

"Jackson!" Clarisse barked, "Cover its left!"

And so I did. Clarisse swung at the sword at it, just as it took in a huge breath. Her shield protected her from some of the heat, but she screamed in agony. The Hydra had swerved just in time, but it hurtled towards me, where I slashed at it vengefully. Annabeth ran forwards and held the fire against it. Just as the last flames died out, the Hydra roared its last roar before dissolving into the air.

"Come on!" I shouted. The skeleton's clanging was getting ever closer.

"Where are we going?" screamed Annabeth.

Then I remembered my dream, and said "Follow me!" I helped Clarisse up. She was badly burnt, hardly able to walk. Too slowly, we made our way to the end of the corridor. I led Clarisse and Annabeth to the side chamber I had dreamt about. I could see the skeletons now, turning the corner and marching towards us. Luckily, we'd reached it just in time. Shoving Annabeth and Clarisse through the door, I saw them filing past us. As quietly as possible, I clicked the door shut, praying to the Gods that they didn't hear.

Turning around, I saw the circular chamber from my dream. Exactly the same. Blood-stained shackles and chains hung over our heads from the ceiling. Candles dimly lit the room, flickering, illuminating the moth-eaten carpets. There was one difference.

Standing behind the table, was a woman with long wavy black hair, and chocolate brown eyes. She looked exactly like Persephone, except she had a wiser look in her eye; more stern. The Goddess Demeter.

I waited for her to shout, or get her daughter. But she looked like a small child, who'd just been caught doing something they'd been warned against. Cautiously, as if she was as worried we'd tell on her, she said "What are you doing down here?"

"Um…" I said. What were we supposed to say?

"He won't be happy if he finds you." She informed us. _Gee, _I thought, _that never occurred to me!_

"We…" began Clarisse

Footsteps echoed around the corridor outside. Demeter looked momentarily terrified – she turned to us, and said "Follow me."

She ushered us out of a door to the side of the room. It was ancient and covered in moss, decaying before our eyes. Demeter pushed it open. The goddess of Harvest had been cramped up in the land of the dead; it was no surprise that it looked like an overgrown graveyard. A table lay in the corner, next to a double bed. _What do Gods need beds for?_ I wondered. Surely they didn't sleep? Then it struck me: they needed _somewhere_ to keep having all these kids.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"The chamber that Hades assigned to me." She told us bitterly, "I come here to visit my daughter-" She paused. Hearing shuffling on the other side, we all froze and strained our ears to listen.

"When I find him, to Tartarus with Poseidon and, 'not killing each other's children'." boomed Hades, his voice slightly muffled through the door.

"We'll there was no need to lock the boy up." Said a voice that I recognised as Persephone's, "he came here by mistake. Had you have let him go, like _I _ said, you would still have Hera's pet in the dungeons."

"She's going to be angry as well now, with no monsters to kill her husband's children with. As if it wasn't enough that I have Apollo chasing me, Hermes complaining, and Poseidon sending down half bloods! The accusations that have been made of me. Attacking the sea? Preposterous!"

Had my dad been lying? I couldn't see any reason why he would. None of it made any sense…

Demeter shepherded us to the other side of the room. "I can get you out, on the understanding that you tell no one I was in there." She told us in a whisper.

"Isn't this… your chamber?" Annabeth asked.

"I am to use only the door directly to the throne room." She motioned to another door, "I am never to take the door that leads to Hades' chamber."

Hades' bedroom. _Gross_.

"I can call him in here and distract him. You must escape the way that you came in."

"Umm… thanks?" I said.

"I'm sure you'll find a way to repay me in the future," she said darkly. "You must hide whilst I get his attention."

We ducked under the nearby table, and waited. Demeter knocked on the door that we'd come in through. Entering the room was Lord of the Dead, closely followed by Queen Persephone.

"What do you want?" he demanded.

"I want to know why I have escaped prisoners and armies of dead people banging past my door, Hades, I must say that your security is deteriorating."

Persephone rolled her eyes, as if she was used to them arguing. We needed to get out, but Persephone had turned around; not wanting to listen to the argument we could all sense coming.

"I do everything I can to detain my prisoners, Demeter."

"I doubt that."

"Any suggestions are of course welcome."

"Surely you could just trick them into eating cursed food?"

"You –"

Hades and Demeter squared up to each other. Unwillingly, Persephone stepped in between, and I took my chance, grabbing Annabeth's wrist and pulled her through the door, Clarisse hobbling along closely behind. We both took one of Clarisse's arms and practically carried her through Hades' bedroom, and back into the corridor.

We tried to find our way out of the place, but the place was like the Labyrinth, and believe me I'd know. Winding corridors led to dead ends and guarded staircases. Slowly, we began to realise it was hopeless. After what seemed like forever, we were getting nowhere, and Annabeth pointed out a door that we'd passed a million times before. We slipped inside. It was just a simple box room, with not much in except a few spare swords and shields.

"We're going to have to stop at some time." said Annabeth, panting. She still hadn't recovered from the time she'd spent without food or water. Clarisse had bags under her eyes, and her skin was badly burnt in places. Nodding, I sat on the floor, and took off my backpack. We were running low on non-underworld grown food, and we were no closer to getting out. Handing the bag to Clarisse, I took a sip out of my water bottle and gave the rest to Annabeth, who looked like she was about to pass out.

Clarisse rationed out a pitiful supper of half a slice of bread and two grapes. Luckily, the grapes were especially Dionysus grown, and lasted longer than they should have, but the bread was starting to go stale. Clarisse and I had devoured our share within thirty seconds, whereas Annabeth left hers untouched.

"You two get some sleep, I'll keep watch." I told them. I half expected Clarisse to protest - about how she was perfectly fine - but her eyes drooped as soon as her head hit the floor.

I rested my head back against the wall, and Annabeth shuffled over next to me. Keeping one hand on Riptide (skeletons soldiers could be heard clanging their bones outside the door every few minutes) I tried to think of a way out. Really, we shouldn't have been sleeping; we were in a weapons closet in the underworld where we were the victims of a manhunt – you can see why it'd be kind of dangerous. I looked at Annabeth; her skin was still pale white, and she was shaking slightly, even now.

"You need to eat. And drink." I told her.

"I'm fine." She said. "Really." She added seeing the doubt on my face.

"_Sure_." I said, sceptically.

She didn't seem to notice. Sighing and leaning back against the wall, she said, "I can't think of a situation where we get out of here alive, Percy."

"You'll see. I promised, didn't I?"

She looked at me doubtfully; I couldn't blame her. I wished that I could believe what I was saying.

"Thanks for coming to rescue me, seaweed brain." She said.

"Oh, that's it, you've finally cracked." I joked. "You've officially gone mental." She smiled.

"Wow, you know how to make things difficult don't you?" she said, and I laughed. She kissed me; I temporarily forgot that we were in the underworld. I let my fingers run over her hair. She pulled away and leaned her head against the wall, leaving me to gain my grip on reality again. Every time she did that, it was like the first time.

My mind wandered back to the prophecy.

'One will desert, for fear of what's behind.'

Grover had deserted; scared about Juniper back at camp.

'The plan will fail,  
True love prevails.

Misfortune is cast upon the Rising Sun,  
Unable to return the imprisoned one'

Whatever happened, I was not going to fail to get Annabeth back.

"You need to eat." I told her again, pushing her food towards her. Reluctantly, she forced it down. She drank as much water as I could get her to. I put my arm around her and she rested her head on my shoulder. Her eyes were closed within a minute, and I was left to listen to the skeletons passing so dangerously close to our hideout.


	6. Chapter 6

**Annabeth Gets A Present**

Roughly, Clarisse shook me awake. Sometime last night she'd taken over the lookout. Annabeth's eyelashes brushed my cheek as she sat up. "Wh-" I began, before Clarisse covered my mouth with her hand. Hades' voice was reverberating against the walls from outside the door.

"We will search for her straight away." He was telling someone.

"But sir… what of the escaped prisoners?" asked someone with an old, wheezy voice.

"Abandon all efforts to find them. They are unimportant."

"Where are we to look?"

"Everywhere. Send some men to Zeus and Poseidon's domains; give them something to complain about…" Their voices faded as their footsteps echoing through the corridor gradually died out.

Who was he talking about? Clarisse grabbed my arm and jerked me up. Grabbing my backpack, I slung it over my shoulder; helping Annabeth up. Making sure that I was holding her hand tight, because I was not going to let the last line of the prophecy be true, we slipped out of the door, and ran the opposite way that Hades' voice was headed.

It seemed too good to be true when the first left we took led us straight to two large, metal doors. They weren't locked. Naturally, I went to pull them open.

_Don't do that boy, you'll get yourself killed, _hissed a familiar voice. I couldn't remember where I'd heard it before. Annabeth's grip on my hand tightened; I heard a sharp intake of breath from Clarisse.

_Come on Percy. Are you saying you don't remember us? _Whispered a slightly more feminine version of the last hiss.

_We're forgettable now, are we? _Said voice number one.

_So he won't have brought us a snack._

_All the times we've seen him, never, has he had the courtesy to bring a dead rat. They're not exactly hard to come by down here._

"Hermes!" my brain clicked into place. The voices – George and Martha – were the snakes on Hermes' caduceus (or should I say cell phone?)

"That's right." Materialising in front of us was a middle aged, athletic man; he had salt and pepper hair, blue eyes and the kind of upturned eyebrows that you always see on the mischievous kids at school. I wasn't too pleased to see him. Sure, Hermes had always been alright, but I'd seen way too many Gods in the past couple of days – usually, you have to pray and worship and sacrifice things for them before they'd even lend you a favour.

"You've got mail." He said, turning to Annabeth. He looked sulky, not his usual chatty self, "George, Martha."

_Why? The boy doesn't appreciate us. You'd be nowhere without me._

_And me! _Interjected Martha.

George and Martha turned into a pen and notepad before my very eyes. Hermes handed them to Annabeth, along with a brown paper package. "You'll have to sign for it." He said grumpily.

Hesitantly, Annabeth reached for the pen and signed her name. Transforming in her hands, George and Martha appeared before us again.

_Remember our names us next time. _Hissed Martha.

_And rats. _Added George. _Remember the rats._

I averted my eyes, (seeing a God in its true form isn't too good for you) and Hermes was gone.

"What's with him?" Clarisse asked, surprised.

"His son just died." Said Annabeth sadly. I felt a twinge of annoyance. Annabeth had always had a soft spot for Luke.

"So are you going to open that or can I?" asked Clarisse. Annabeth ripped at the brown paper. Inside was a dagger, half golden and half black. It had a sapphire encrusted hilt, with a small note tied to it. Annabeth scanned the note, and for the first time in days, she looked like she had a plan.

"Who's it off?" I asked curiously.

"Athena." She said simply. It may have been my imagination, but she looked a little proud. "Celestial bronze and Stygian iron. Apparently it can kill those skeleton things." She looked at the note suspiciously.

"Can I see that?" Clarisse asked, snatching it out of Annabeth's hands. Her eyes zoomed back and forth as she read the lines. "I'm guessing Athena really doesn't approve of you two." Said Clarisse. Cheeks going a deeper shade of red than Annabeth's, I changed the subject. I didn't want to know what was on that note. "Right, so we can fight them off now!"

"I'd still rather avoid them." Said Clarisse, "I want to know what's through this door."

She grabbed the handle, and mouthed a countdown to us. _Three, two, one. _Bursting through it, the knife passed its first test. Two skeletons were straight on us, and Annabeth stabbed them without a second thought. The knife went in between the skeletons ribs; appearing to pass right through them. Black smoke circled them and they were lost in darkness. When the smoke faded, they were gone.

Looking up at the room we'd entered, I realised we were back in Hades' throne room, which looked identical to our last visit, except that it was completely empty. Skeletons had abandoned their posts, and Hades' throne was left unguarded.

Looking for a way out, I saw a familiar figure coming out of another door.

Demeter looked stressed, as if she were looking for something she couldn't find. "Percy!" She exclaimed, seeing me.

Startled that she wanted to talk to me, I just stared.

"Percy, remember I told you that you could repay your debt to me soon?"

"Um... Yeah." I said.

"Your chance is here. All you have to do is say 'yes'."

In hindsight, I should have probably asked what I was saying 'yes' to. On the other hand, Demeter was a God, and would probably have killed me on the spot if I'd have refused.

"Uh, okay." I said.

She smiled. "Thank you Percy Jackson."

She dashed out of the room, leaving us completely on our own. I stared after her; wondering what I'd just signed up to.


	7. Chapter 7

**We Fly A Bus Back To Camp**

"C'mon." Said Annabeth uneasily, tugging on my hand.

Clarisse led us to the entrance. We ran through the doors, emerging straight into Persephone's garden.

The smell was so overwhelming, all I wanted to do was to forget everything; sit down and eat. Annabeth, who was even weaker, started to do exactly that. Her hand was on a pomegranate when Clarisse slapped it away. Only she seemed to be able to resist the scent; shoving us out.

Soon enough, we realised that we had no direction. "How do you get out of the Underworld?" I asked, and Clarisse and I both turned to Annabeth.

"As far as I know, you don't." She told us.

"What are we supposed to do then?" Clarisse asked furiously.

"The door of Orpheus." I piped up. Both girls looked at me in surprise.

"No one knows where that is." Said Annabeth.

"I do, I used it when I got the Achilles curse." Sometime last year, when the Titans and the Gods were at war, I'd come to the underworld and bathed in the River Styx, taking on the Achilles curse. It made me invincible, except for my lower back. "I'll show you."

Cautiously, I led them to the exit. We took a few wrong turnings – Nico had told me exactly where to go last time, and I'm not the type to pay attention to the direction I'm going in. Eventually, after a few (maybe a _lot_) wrong turnings, we came to a dead end with giant boulders caving up the exit that I knew lay behind them. "You need music to open it." I said.

"Get singing then, Jackson." Ordered Clarisse.

"No way, I found the door! It's your turn to do something." I retaliated.

"Well, it seems like you two have this sorted, so I'm just going to…" said Annabeth, backing into the shadows.

"Oh no, wise girl, you've not done anything at all!" accused Clarisse.

"I've been ill! Percy!"

I wanted to defend her, I really did, but I'm not the musical type. "Uhh…"

Unsurprisingly, she looked offended. "Seriously?"

"Wow Annabeth, you're such a lucky girl." Said Clarisse sarcastically.

"Rock paper scissors?" I suggested.

With no better option, we all dropped everything and did a round of rock paper scissors. I lost. "Two out of three?" I asked hopefully. Thank the gods, I won the next two times, and Annabeth lost. Looking daggers at me, she opened her mouth.

The doors opened before Annabeth even made a sound. Maybe we should have been suspicious then. With a loud noise, stones fell from the ceiling and the boulders tumbled over to the side, leaving a small opening for us to squeeze through. Emerging through the pile of rocks, we found ourselves in Central Park. My eyes stung in the sun. You know when you turn the light on in the morning and it blinds you? Imagine that, but a billion times worse. Clarisse grabbed a newspaper off a nearby bench. "We've been gone for a week."

"How're we going to get back?" I asked. We had no car, no money for a taxi, certainly no money for a plane.

"I can help you with that!" Offered a voice from behind us. Leaning on a tree, was a handsome teenager. Annabeth did a double take - I couldn't blame her, he looked extraordinarily like Luke, even though they weren't related. But Apollo didn't have a sinister scar running over his face. I'd met Apollo before, when he'd illegally helped us on our quest. He was wearing a white top, blue jeans, and loafers. He had sandy hair and a bright cocky smile. I liked Apollo. He may not be the best at writing haikus, but he was a nice guy.

"The third time we've met Percy!" He exclaimed. "And we've still not written a poem. Come on, we'll do one now. A-"

"Hurry up, Apollo, I have places to be." Called a voice from inside the chariot that was parked further back from where Apollo was standing. Right now, it was a large bus - to avoid drawing attention to itself (though the fact that it was in the middle of Central Park was a flaw in that plan.) The Chariot is what humans perceive as the sun. Apollo is the god who flies it up into the sky to bring to life mankind's idea of light. It can take the form of any vehicle it wants.

"Right then, like I was saying, I can give you a lift." He told us.

Turning to the girls, I saw that Clarisse was blushing and Annabeth was fiddling with her hair. Suddenly, I wanted to snap Apollo's neck.

"Apollo!" The voice called again impatiently. He gestured for us to get on the bus, and we did so, suspiciously. How had he known where we were? (Though I don't think that's why I was so bothered by his sudden appearance.)

"Well, I've never really met you before!" Said Apollo to Annabeth. "C'mon, you've never seen how the chariot works!"

Annabeth blushed and followed him, and I'll admit I was annoyed. Clarisse smirked at me from behind. I knew Apollo just had a flirty personality, but still, I kept an eye on them as I sat down. I perched on the edge of my seat so that I could see them.

"Oh it's so cute when you're jealous." The voice that had been calling from the bus was now next to me - and my cheeks were on fire. _Why had I not looked where I was sitting? _I wondered desperately. The most beautiful woman I had ever seen sat before me, curly blonde hair and grey eyes. Aphrodite doesn't look like that to everyone, but I suppose she just looks like your idea of pretty. Unsure of what to say to her comment, I mumbled "I'm not jealous."

"Please, you could not make it more obvious. You two are the cutest." If it was possible, my face went an even deeper shade of red. Of all the seats on the bus…

I'd met Aphrodite before, when I'd gone on a quest to save Annabeth from the titan Atlas. She'd told me to forget about everyone else on the quest, and concentrate on Annabeth, love conquers all, and what else? Oh yeah, that I was in for a lot of tragic events and a tough ride. Overall, the experience had not been pleasant, but I had the feeling she'd take it the wrong way if I moved now.

"I _told_ you, didn't I? When you were saving Annabeth from a titan or something - I'm always right with these types of things." She informed me. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to come up with an answer to that- but it seemed I didn't have to. Aphrodite was off talking again.

"It's just a shame that you took so long to get together. Honestly, you should have heard yourself." she took a mirror from her red purse, and began reapplying her lipstick, making minor adjustments to her hair. I couldn't tell what she was trying to do, she looked perfect. "I've been watching you practically since you met her. You were both so argumentative at first! I remember just before your second summer at camp. You were at that school with those terrible eyesores, and you had that picture of Annabeth? Remember? One of the boys asked if she was your girlfriend, and you won't have seen her because she was invisible, but she looked quite happy at the idea." She straightened out her red dress. "And then you went on the quest for the Golden Fleece, and that was just a big ball of cuteness. Like when you got turned into a guinea pig by Circe and Annabeth hugged you when she'd saved you! I was just dying in the corner screaming silently 'OTP!'"

I didn't know what that meant, but she didn't seem to require a response. "Honestly, if Annabeth hadn't have saved you, you'd still be a guinea pig. Circe annoys me so much. Taking girls and making them live on her island? I'd hate to spend all my days with that ugly old hag. Do you remember when you went to Siren Bay? I cried because of you two. How you jumped in to save her; pulled her past all those water bomb things and made a bubble for her underwater? C-u-t-e. Did you hear what she said to you? Of course you didn't, you had wax in your ears. I won't tell you, but I swear, my little shipper heart broke."

I wondered if she was going to give me a full recap of my history with Annabeth. It appeared that she was. She began speaking very excitedly, exaggerating every sentence as if to get the full feeling of it. "Then you made the chariot together, and you won together, and everyone was cheering, and then _she kissed your cheek!_ I literally had a panic attack, I couldn't believe it! _She kissed your cheek! _Non-violent contact at last!"

She knew that I could remember all this myself, right?

"Then you saved her, which was the most adorable rescue mission _ever_ by the way. Then the year after that, you were _about to go on a date." _She said slowly, savouring the words. "Remember telling your mother it wasn't a real date? Please. Always listen to your mother Percy. You were going on a real date, which is why I was ready to obliterate you when you brought that _Rachel_ girl. Honestly, its basic rules that a date is with _one_ girl."

First of all, it was not a date. Second of all, I did not bring Rachel. Well, I kind of did, but only because she followed me whilst I was trying to find Annabeth after I'd been _attacked._ Thirdly, Aphrodite brings a second date so often now that her husband expects it!

"And of course, when you agreed to go on the quest into the labyrinth, you went into her cabin and you _almost_ kissed. Do you have any idea how frustrating that is for me?"

I had a pretty good idea, since I was there and feeling those exact same feelings at the time.

"I think we both know what happens next, don't we? You were in my husband's workshop, I think? Everything was about to blow up, you had no way out, so you told Annabeth to get out safely. It was a real movie moment. I genuinely thought that Annabeth would punch you, but she kissed you! I started screaming to random people that you two were canon, and then what do you go and do? Bring Rachel back. If people knew what canon meant, that situation would have been embarrassing for me. Luckily, no one did. Seriously, though, why did you kiss Rachel the next summer? I wanted to punch you."

Technically, she kissed me.

"Oh, but I'll forgive you because the underwater kiss when you got together was just so romantic! I got so excited! It's all just so asdfghjkl!"

I didn't quite catch that last bit, but it didn't seem to matter.

"And then you turned down being made immortal for her! She was panicking like mad then, like when you thought she was going to join the hunters. I knew you were going to turn down the offer, you know. Ah, I could just watch you two all day."

She found another imperfection in her makeup and started working on that, leaving me to wonder just how often Aphrodite was watching me.. Whilst she busied herself, I sneaked a look back to the front of the bus. Annabeth was laughing, trying to drive the bus. Apollo was laughing with her. I could easily push him out of the window, right?

When I looked back at Aphrodite, she was staring at me with a look on her face; you'd think I was a lost puppy. "You're so adorable. There's nothing to worry about dear, they're practically cousins or something." That didn't stop me from trying to watch them. "So tell me," she continued, "What happened in the underworld? I'm not allowed down there you know. They say that, but as soon as Hades needs to impress the wife he captured himself, I'm told to go down there. I can break the rules if I want I suppose… but it's _disgusting _down there. So depressing. I go to Elysium quite often though; no one really stops me…"

Wondering if she wanted me to answer her initial question, I let her go on talking about herself, which she seemed quite content with. I tried to watch Annabeth again, but Clarisse's head was in the way.

"…and it's lovely, but really I prefer it up here-" Aphrodite stopped when she realised I wasn't listening. "You know who you remind me of right now?" she asked.

"No…" I replied.

"Annabeth. You're behaving exactly as she did whenever you talked to _Rachel_." She said the word Rachel with disgust, as if she were just the evil witch in the way of the happily ever after she had planned out. "That was just plain mean Percy. It was so _obvious _that Annabeth liked you – but then again, you're not very good with reading emotions. You wouldn't know love if it punched you in the gut. And I believe she does, quite frequently." She gave a very pointed look towards Annabeth.

The bus seemed to jolt, and I realised just how sick I felt. I loathe flying, but I think Aphrodite's aura made it easier. Nevertheless, the feeling that I was about to die had returned now. "Well it looks like we're almost here!" Aphrodite exclaimed. "What a shame. I wanted to hear about your time in the underworld. Oh well." She readjusted her necklace and hair as we came to a crash on the floor. "Good luck Percy." She said, and strode off the bus, leaving me with a completely blank look on my face.


	8. Chapter 8

**We Go To A Wedding **

Returning to camp was better than the last time. I didn't see Annabeth much, because as soon as we got back we all went to get cleaned up. Then it was dinner, and Dionysus didn't seem in the mood to bend the rule of sitting at your own table. Clarisse was sat receiving admiring looks from her siblings. Annabeth's brothers and sisters crowded round her, giving her hugs and welcoming her back. I sat alone at my table.

A bleating noise sounded from behind me. "Percy!" Grover was trotting towards me. "Thank the gods you got out okay. I'll be honest with you; I had no clue how you were going to make it out."

I laughed. "Thanks for believing in me buddy." I said sarcastically. "Is everything alright back here now?"

"Well, kind of. When I got back, the nymphs and the satyrs were having this big fight – things aren't going right. At first, plants were dying, animals going into hibernation, leaves falling early. But then it switched around, and now it's like everything is supercharged. Plants should have started to wilt by now, autumn should be coming, but it hasn't. The satyrs and the nymphs are convinced the other one is causing it – I doubt either of them could. But they won't drop it; they were going to tear each other apart when I got here." I was confused. Surely, nature spirits want it to be summer all the time?

After Dionysus told us to clear out of the dining pavilion, we all headed to the campfire. Roaring flames licked the marshmallows people were holding into it. Everybody from camp was gathered around it, laughing. I perched on the end of the log, next to Annabeth.

"Hey." I said.

"Hi." she replied, staring into the flames as the rest of the camp chattered loudly around us. She still looked pale, but she looked better than she had in the underworld.

"So how was dinner?" I asked sarcastically, knowing that she hated all the attention she'd got in there. Sure, if she had rescued me then she'd be over the moon, but she despised the 'damsel in distress' role.

She gave me a look. "It's not funny." She said, "I've got a whole night of that ahead of me." I laughed. "Seriously, they're never going to let me out of here again in case I get hurt."

"Ah, sure they will, they know I'll be able to save you."

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? I bet I could have gotten out of there if you'd just given me a little more time."

"Please, you were just waiting for me to come and get you." I joked.

"Sure seaweed brain. Whatever helps you sleep at night."

I laughed. She looked back at the flames. I felt someone tapping on my shoulder. Looking behind, I saw Rachel standing there, still in scruffy paint splattered clothes. "Hey," she said, "Next time you get a prophecy, don't just leave me passing out in my room, okay? And tell me before you risk your life again." And with that she was gone.

Before I had time to recall that I'd just left her in my hurry to find Chiron, I caught Annabeth looking at me like I'd just mortally offended her. "Are you okay?" I asked her. Apparently, that was a big mistake.

"You went to see Rachel when I was _dead?_" she asked incredulously.

"Well, she is the new Oracle…" I said, suddenly nervous. Who did she want me to go and see? I could try the old one, but I was pretty sure that her ashes wouldn't respond.

"So? The second I'm gone, you go running to _Rachel_, of all people?"

"What's the big deal? I've not even talked to her in ages. I went to go and see if I could save you!" Luckily, most people were still talking and couldn't hear us, but anyone sat close to us was listening intently.

"What's the big deal? You know perfectly well what the big deal is!" she accused me. I couldn't believe her. After all the trouble I'd gone through, she was bothered by this. I'm still allowed to talk to other people, aren't I?

"You're one to talk; you were getting pretty friendly with Apollo back there." I retaliated.

"What are you talking about? He's a god Percy!"

"That didn't stop you giggling like a little girl whenever he talked to you!"

She blushed. "You mean whilst you got comfy next to Aphrodite?" _Well sure_. I thought. _Whilst she talked to me about you._

"Well I didn't want to disturb you two up at the front." I said. There were tears in her eyes. Half of me wanted to hug her and apologise, but the more defiant part of me wanted to stand my ground. She gave me a hurt look and stormed off into the night. Everyone at the fire was now staring at me. I too stormed off, but I went in the opposite direction to Annabeth.

The next morning, I was packing my bags at the crack of dawn. If Tyson were here, I wouldn't be up at this ungodly hour in the morning – but after my fight with Annabeth, and Grover being occupied with his war, I had no one left. It was only a few days until everyone went back home anyway – summer was pretty much over. Usually, I would have stayed to enjoy my last few days at camp, but after this, I couldn't wait to get out. There was a few unread letters off my mom next to my cabin door that had piled up whilst I'd been gone, my mom would be worried sick. I figured leaving a few days early wouldn't hurt anyone.

Angrily, I found Chiron at the climbing wall and informed him where I was going. He looked suspicious, but then I mentioned that I was worried about my mom and his expression softened. "I suppose so." He said reluctantly. With that, I walked back to my cabin. I bumped into Annabeth. She still looked upset.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"Home." I said shortly. I hated being mad at her, but I wasn't going to just let it go.

"Why?"

"My mom's not heard from me in weeks." I informed her. She looked away guiltily. "See you then." I said, before walking off back to my cabin, in danger of my eyes watering.

Grabbing my small bag of luggage, I took a last look at the cabin – usually, this was a sad moment, where I reminisced of the life threatening but overall fun summer I'd just had, but all I could do now was check I hadn't left anything.

My mom had been surprised when I'd shown up three days early, but she'd given me a huge hug and welcomed me in all the same. "Come in, come in." She said, ushering me through the front door. "You're lucky, I've only just got back, I've been looking at wedding dresses." She had a huge grin on her face. My stepdad had been Gabe Ugliano until I was eleven (nicknamed 'smelly Gabe' by me and my mature sense of humour) and he was absolutely horrible. When I first discovered I was a demigod, I also found out that my mom had only married him to protect me - his utterly human scent hid me from monsters. She literally married him, because he was 'smelly Gabe'. Mysteriously, sometime after I'd given my mom the head of Medusa, Gabe had disappeared of the face of the earth. Recently, she'd met Paul Blofis, who had asked her to marry him. I'd never seen her so happy.

Immediately she sat me down and filled my plate with blue chips – it's a long story – and asked me what was wrong. My mom could tell if something was up just from the way I sat.

"Nothing." I told her.

"Then why are you home from camp so early?"

"I just… I needed a break. Plus, I kind of forgot to answer your letters."

"Did you even read them at all?" She asked, eyeing me suspiciously.

"Well, I was a bit busy."

"With what?"

I proceeded to tell her about how Annabeth had been captured, how my dad needed someone to help him, how I'd gone to the underworld. She listened intently, her eyes fixed on me the whole time.

"But…" she said when I'd finished, "if Hades didn't know about anything, why did he take Annabeth?"

I shrugged. It was a good question, one I'll admit I hadn't given much thought to. I was more concerned with getting Annabeth out alive, especially after what the prophecy had said. That still worried me. Prophecies were _never_ wrong. But half the lines still didn't even make any sense.

I stopped thinking about it, because it made me think of Rachel, which reminded me of Annabeth and our stupid fight. I'd left that out in my story for my mom. The truth is, I know it was silly. All the same, if Annabeth is allowed to be jealous of whom I talked to whilst I was trying to _save her life_, why can't I be jealous when she's giggling like a little girl over a god?

"Well," said my mom, "if you had read your letters, you'd know that we've set a date for the wedding."

"Really? When?" I asked, surprised.

"Four days."

"_Four days?" _I repeated. _Geez, _I thought. _Lucky I came home from camp early._

"Like I said, if you had read your letters, it was going to be the day after you got back from camp. We wanted do it as soon as possible, but we didn't want to drag you home."

"So you've got everything ready?" I asked, and immediately, I regretted it. My mom took out a file from the next room and started showing me the details of everything- and I mean _everything._ From the vows, to the rings, to the small ribbons that would be tied around the chairs.

Paul Blofis came in at around 6o'clock and saved me. He sat down at the table and entered a deep discussion with my mom about more wedding stuff. I heard my name crop up.

"Well Percy needs to be a groomsman." Said Paul Blofis.

"But we've got nobody to pair him up with to walk down the aisle." Said my mom.

"I'm sure we can find someone."

"I'm just going to go…" I interjected, but no one seemed to hear, so I slipped out of the room and flopped onto my bed.

Two days passed, and it was the day before the wedding. All I had to do was walk down the aisle (on my own, because there weren't enough bridesmaids) and stand at the side, but my mom seemed to think that this was rocket science, and I needed detailed instructions about the whole wedding. My mom made me put on a suit and tie, and couldn't stop fussing over 'how grown up her little boy looked.' Tugging at my tie, I went to open the door for the person that'd just knocked.

Annabeth was standing at the door, still in her camp half-blood top. She looked fully fed now, but as if she hadn't slept in days. "Annabeth, what're you doing he-" I began, before my mom came to the door.

"Annabeth! It's so great to see you."

"Hi Miss Jackson."

"How are you? Percy's told me about his quest."

"Fine, thanks."

My mom looked her up and down, as if sizing her up. Contemplating something, she asked "I know you just got here, but d'you think you could do me a favour?"

"Um… sure." Annabeth nodded timidly, and mouthed to me: _trouble at camp, _before being whisked away by mom into the kitchen_. _

Seriously? I'd only just got away from there. Couldn't they sort it out by themselves? My eyes caught the kitchen door. I felt like they were plotting against me in there. Why would my mom need Annabeth?

Ten minutes later, they came out of the kitchen. I had to remind myself to breathe.

Annabeth's hair had been taken out of the ponytail she'd had in; falling in curls around her shoulders. She had on a sleeveless white dress and gold bangles on her arms.

"Wha...W…Annabeth?" I stammered. She smiled shyly.

My mom's voice jolted me back to reality.

"Perfect fit! Annabeth, I'm one bridesmaid short, so do you think you could walk down the aisle with Percy?"

"What?" Annabeth and I exclaimed in unison. I'm not sure who went a deeper shade of red.

In the end, my mom convinced Annabeth to do it._ Brilliant, _I thought. _This isn't going to be awkward at all._


	9. Chapter 9

**Monsters Crashed The Wedding**

That day, my mom was happier than she'd ever been before. The wedding was held in a traditional church. Blue ribbons were tied to the ends of the pews. Stained glass windows let multi-coloured streaks of light chase themselves around the room. My mom would probably have preferred something on a smaller scale, but Paul Blofis had a room full of guests, whereas my mom had a few ex co-workers from her Sweet On America candy store job and a few friends from her English course.

Annabeth and I walked down the aisle (shut up) first.

When we were halfway down, she started sniggering. "Your tie's gone all weird." She informed me.

I looked; it had indeed gone extremely crooked. I started trying to fiddle with it, but it only made it worse. It'd basically come off, and was hanging round my neck haphazardly.

Annabeth looked like she was in danger of bursting out into tears of laughter. "Shh! We can't laugh." I told her. "How the hell do you do these things?"

She giggled harder as I tried to re-tie it, but of course, it fell off. "Dammit!" I exclaimed in a whisper, but the whisper was slightly more audible than I'd intended. Annabeth couldn't help herself, she burst out laughing. As I turned to pick it up, I saw a very old woman looking at us disapprovingly. Guiltily, I picked it up and sped Annabeth to the top of the aisle.

As we sat down in the pews, someone tapped me on the back. Turning around, I almost groaned in despair. A thin teenage boy was sat behind us, also wearing a suit (with his tie tied properly), with chocolate brown hair. He was sat next to his mother.

When I was around five or six, my mom had taken me round to their house a lot. She would talk with the guy's mom about rude customers, shoe sales, and a load of other stuff I didn't care about. Me and the boy (whose name was Toby) would go to his room. I despised it. I'd rather have been at home with Gabe, and that's saying something. He was a cocky, arrogant kid. He'd call me names, chase me and taunted me with the fact he had better toys than me. Sure, you're thinking, how stupid? But at the age of six, this was bullying at its worst.

"Well, if it isn't Percy Jackson!" he whispered confidently

I nodded reluctantly at him.

"And who's this?" he asked me, gesturing to Annabeth.

"That's Annabeth." I told him, and turned around, praying to the gods that he didn't want to talk.

He leant forward and whispered to me "Bit out of your league, Perce." Annabeth shifted in her seat uncomfortably. He looked at her and said "Hey, I'm Toby. How the hell did you end up here with old Percy?"

Words cannot describe how much I wanted to punch him in the face.

Three more bridesmaids later, my mom stepped out, wearing a midnight blue dress that matched her eyes. Her long brown hair was brushed out over her shoulders. She looked beautiful, and younger than I'd ever seen her. Nervously tiptoeing her way down to the altar, she had a huge smile on her face – she'd done this before, but I suppose this was the first time she'd really wanted to.

For those of you that do not know, unless you're getting married, weddings are extremely boring. The priest spoke for a long time. Finally, they got to the vows. Paul Blofis put a ring around my mom's finger, and promised to take her as his lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from that day forward, for better, for worse, in sickness and in health, 'til death do them part.

They both said I do, and the Priest asked the assembly "If anyone objects to this union, speak now or forever hold your peace."

I had an image of Gabe Ugliano bursting in as a statue. Who knows why? The Priest was about to go on when I jumped out of my seat as if it'd suddenly come alive with electricity. Everyone looked at me. Ice cold water was dripping down my back. Toby was sat behind me with a now empty cup of water in his hand. _Everyone was staring at me._

"Percy?" my mom asked worriedly from the altar.

"Um… yes?" I said, trying with all my might to come up with a story for what had just happened.

"Why are you stood up?"

"I- I don't know?" I told her slowly, before Annabeth grabbed my arm and pulled me down. My mom and Paul Blofis looked at each other, as if to say _what a weird kid._ Thankfully, they carried on.

The ceremony continued, and Paul Blofis kissed the girl. I watched my new step-dad walk her down the aisle. I had a feeling he was definitely better than Gabe.

The guests were all shoved into taxis and drove to the venue for the after party that Paul Blofis's cousins were throwing. I had to greet my mom's ex co-workers which was very tedious.

"_Oh, haven't you grown?"_

"_It seems like yesterday your feet couldn't touch the floor on the chair at the candy store."_

"_You looked so grown up today, walking your girlfriend down the aisle in a suit, won't be long 'til we're at your wedding!"_

You know, your typical adult stuff. I was pretty damn sure that none of them would be at my wedding, however soon it was. They started to talk about someone else's affair with his wife's secretary. Seizing the moment, I slipped away.

Annabeth was standing alone in the corner. I walked over. "Hi." I said.

"Have you still not done your tie?" she asked incredulously. I'd given up on that a while back and stuffed it in my pocket. I took it out.

"I don't understand _how._"

"Honestly." She snatched it off me and wrapped it around my neck. I tried to follow the steps – under, over, she'd lost me. "I'm sorry." She almost whispered whilst fumbling with the tie, not looking me in the eye.

"Me too."

"Forget it ever happened?"

"Sounds good to me."

"There you go." Miraculously, she'd fixed the tie situation and our argument in what? Thirty seconds?

"How do you know how to tie a tie?"

"My mother is the Goddess of Wisdom, seaweed brain."

"Oh, I was going to say. I can't really picture you wearing a tie. Well, I can, but you probably don't want to know what else you're _not_ wearing." She elbowed me in the ribcage smirking.

Suddenly, there was a crash from outside the door, and a loud snarling noise. My mom paused to listen. It was hard to hear over everyone. Paul Blofis cautiously took a step closer to the door. Something banged on it; Paul Blofis jumped back. I nodded to my mother, who started ushering a family away from the door. Paul Blofis and Annabeth followed in her lead, evacuating the door area. A drunken English cousin bellowed "Blimey! Someone's car's on fire."

Pulling my pen out of my pocket, I drew closer to the door. None of the guests were sober enough to realise anything unusual. We could have probably shouted "Run, there's a monster at the door!" and they wouldn't have noticed.

The courtyard was seemingly empty. Oak trees surrounded it, closing it in from the fumes from the highway just beyond them. Fairy lights were draped over the trees, and wooden benches made the whole place look pretty cosy. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

I was about to go back in, when I spotted a figure emerging from the trees. A girl with long black hair and pale white skin was approaching me. She wore a white shirt and loose black pants. She seemed harmless.

Two more girls appeared. They looked identical to the first girl. Maybe someone had spiked my drink and I was seeing triples, like my new 'uncle Sam', who had given me a great big pat on the head and a great whiff of beer. Surely, these girls weren't the source of the noise? Maybe it had been a car on fire.

The girl in the middle took a step forward – she had a slight limp.

The two girls behind her bared their fangs.

It clicked.

The middle empousa showed her true colours – flaming hair, and pale white skin that contrasted with her blood red eyes. Spoiling this terrifying appearance was her legs – one was a prosthetic leg, made of bronze, and the other… the other was a goat's leg.

She dived at me; I fell onto the floor but rolled away, right into demon number two, who would have got me if she hadn't been knocked off course by the sword in my hand that I was flailing around aimlessly. I got to my feet, but in the time I stood up, empousa number one had shoved me back onto the floor again. Sinisterly baring her teeth, she showed me the fresh blood that stained them. She prepared to bite. Bracing myself, I tensed – but she froze, eyes wide with shock. Her sharp breaths came to a halt, and she fell forward, evaporating into the air. Annabeth's now bloody knife fell to the floor when the back that it was lodged in melted into air. Picking it up, I grabbed Annabeth's outstretched hand and gave her back her weapon.

"One each?" she suggested. I nodded. I ducked an attack from the empousa on the left whilst Annabeth stabbed at the one on the right, narrowly missing. I tried to concentrate on my opponent – duck, dive, jab, block, stab. It's hard to fight a monster when you're trying to watch someone else. The empousa lunged at me, and I pulled away just in time. Thinking I'd try a new move, I put my foot in front of hers and pushed her over it, bringing her to the floor. After taking a moment to see if Annabeth had witnessed my new ninja karate skills (she hadn't) I stabbed, and the empousa's high pitched scream pierced the night.

"Go let your mom know you're okay." Said Annabeth, in a calm but strained way. She had the monster in a headlock, but her knife was two feet away on the floor. "I'll be fine."

"If you die I'm going to kill you!" I warned her, and jogged back into the building.

"Percy! Are you alright?" My mom and Paul Blofis were running towards me, away from the drunken relatives that were completely oblivious to the panic arising from the newlyweds.

"I'm fine," I said, making my decision on the spot, "Look mom, I've got to go."

"I know." She said, pulling me into a bear hug. "Just be careful, okay?"

"You too." I replied, avoiding answering that one.

"I'll take care of her for you." Interjected Paul Blofis. Nodding, I sprinted towards the door. I heard Paul Blofis locking it behind me, shouting something to the drunks.

Where was Annabeth? My breathing became shallow and my heart raced. I'd been gone for two seconds…

I waited for fifty seven seconds before I started calling her name. "Annabeth!" no response, except for the whistle of the cold breeze. She couldn't have gone that far.

"Annab-"

"Shh seaweed brain, do you want to get us killed?" my whole body relaxed. I pulled her into a hug before she could say anything. "What's up with you?" she asked.

"Where the hell did you go?" I demanded in a harsh whisper, though it was pointless, anything listening would have heard me by now. "I thought you were dead. Don't ever do that again." I told her, holding her tighter.

"Sorry, but I had to check something. It sounded like… it doesn't matter. C'mon, we have to go."

_Where exactly? _I thought, but followed her all the same.

We dodged our way through the trees, going the opposite direction to the sound of oncoming traffic, jumping at any noises we didn't make. We came out at a small stream; we slowed down. Moonlight shimmered across the water. I let my feet drag through it, creating ripples that ran across the velvety surface. Annabeth slumped up against a tree.

"Where are we running to?" I asked.

"I don't know, but if we'd have stayed there, more would have come." She replied. "We need to get back to camp."

"What's happened back there?"

"A lot." She replied. _That was specific, _I thought. "We need to worry about getting there first."

"Any ideas?" I asked. She bit her lip.

"Have you not got any mortal money?"

Rooting around in my pocket, I found one quarter and seven cents. "Enough to buy a pencil, maybe." There was a hoot overhead, which made me jump and drop half of the money. "A broken pencil." I added, looking at the remainder in my hand.

Sighing exasperatedly, she put her head in her hands. Hopefully, she was coming up with a plan. Probably. It was Annabeth after all. I'd learnt not to disturb her when she was doing this. I sat down in the stream. Normally, you'd get wet from doing this, but staying dry is one of the privileges of being the Son of Poseidon. "Couldn't we send an iris message? Got any drachmas?" I asked tentatively.

"Iris isn't answering to anybody."

"Oh." I tried to piece things together. Iris was missing. Someone in the underworld had been attacking the sea. Annabeth had been taken for no apparent reason. And something was wrong with the satyrs and nymphs. Everything sounded like a bunch of random events.

Absentmindedly, I created a mini whirlpool in the water. It only went up to just above my ankles. I made it bigger and bigger until the stones were kicked up, torpedoing through the water.

"Would you stop showing off?" said Annabeth.

"Why, do you find this impressive?" I asked sarcastically.

"Seriously! We're ages away from camp and there'd dozens of monsters after us!"

"So in the morning, we start walking. Would you relax?" I got out of the water and sat down next to her. "Get some sleep, I'll keep watch. We've been in worse situations than this."

My mind raced through images of holding up the weight of the sky, running from enormous creatures, being in the middle of an erupting volcano, the downfall of Mount Olympus, and most prominent of all, being turned into a guinea pig. Annabeth shrugged and rested her head on my shoulder. She was asleep within minutes.


	10. Chapter 10

**Clarisse sings Disney Songs**

Here's some advice: Don't sit slouched against a tree for a whole night. It hurts like hell in the morning.

When Annabeth woke up, she made me vacate the area whilst she changed into the clothes she had miraculously fit into her tiny purse, along with her cap and a few drachmas. We dumped the bridesmaid dress in the river. Grover would kill us if he found out, but apparently he had bigger problems.

We kept walking until we got to an old looking high street with shops, cafes and weird street artists. There was no road – just a giant stretch of cobbled paving stone. People sat outside drinking coffee and reading newspapers, and kids looking in through the window of a toy shop longingly. Something smelled really nice from a café, but Annabeth didn't seem to be in the mood for breakfast.

"So which way is it to Long Island?" I asked.

"No clue." Annabeth answered. "We'll have to ask for directions."

"Or we could try and find a map." I suggested.

"We have no money."

"We can look at it in a store."

"OR we could ask for directions."

"Walking directions to Camp Half Blood?" I asked sarcastically.

"This is some kind of manly pride thing, isn't it?" asked Annabeth exasperatedly.

"You're one to talk about pride." I retaliated.

"We are asking for directions, seaweed brain, you can hide whilst I do it if you want." She stalked off to the nearest person. I was tempted to take her offer, but I went after her.

She approached a tall man with a business suit on. "Excuse me; do you know the way to Montauk?" _Surprise, surprise, _he didn't. Annabeth didn't give up hope though, she asked person after person.

"Can I have a drachma?" I asked.

"Why?" she asked suspiciously.

"To spend."

Annoyed, she pulled one out of her purse. "Go buy yourself something pretty."

I snuck off into the nearest bookstore. The shelves were dusty, and it was almost deserted, but it smelled really nice. An elderly looking woman entered the room through a door leading to the back. I asked her for a map, and she told me to wait whilst she went to get one.

When she came back, she handed me a map. Squiggly lines entwined with letters floating off the page. I started to see the flaw in my plan. Figuring I'd _not_ tell Annabeth about this, I handed the woman back the map, and apologised (I felt bad for not buying anything) and exited the shop, a wind chime tinkling as I left.

Annabeth was still asking random strangers. Surprisingly optimistically, she jogged up to me and told me, "Some woman I just talked to told me that following the signposts from that road over there will work."

"Annabeth," I replied, "We're dyslexic. It will take us a week to get there like that."

"Well, if you have any better sugg-" she began, when a deadly look spread across her face. "Oh look. Your _friend _is here."

Rachel Elizabeth Dare was jogging over to us. She must've been helping the street artists, I knew she did that sometimes. "Hey, what're you two doing here?"

"Trying to get away from here." Said Annabeth pointedly.

"Why?" Rachel asked innocently.

"We have to get back to camp." I told her, before Annabeth could say something offensive.

"But you just left. Is something wrong?"

"Nothing you can help with." Said Annabeth. I rolled my eyes.

"Well that's a shame; I could have given you a lift." Rachel said.

"I-"

"That'd be great, if you could." I interjected, before Annabeth could finish her sentence. Rachel smiled triumphantly.

Rachel led us away from the high street to a busy road. She hauled a taxi in her rich father's name, and we all squashed in the back. _This is going to be awkward,_ I thought, as I sat down between the two girls.

"You didn't have to come." Annabeth told her.

"I want to see what's going on." Rachel replied. The guy in the front asked where we were going.

"Farm Road, Long Island please." I asked.

"Shouldn't you already know, being the Oracle?" Annabeth asked in a falsely sweet voice.

"I can't just tune into anywhere in the world." Rachel snapped.

"So what exactly _can_ you do?" said Annabeth, her voice still sugar-coated.

"How long will it take to get there?" I called to the driver.

"About half an hour." Replied a husky voice. If Annabeth and Rachel managed not to blow the car up for half an hour I'd be surprised.

The minutes dragged on. The whole time there, Annabeth and Rachel were constantly at odds - I've spent twelve hours in a car with Clarisse, who is practically the God of arguments, and there had easily been less bickering than this. I was ready to jump out of the car on a suicide mission when the driver stopped, informing us we were there. When we got out, I could have kissed the ground out of relief.

At first glance, the camp seemed fine. Most people had gone home for winter, but a few people stayed. Annabeth led us through the strawberry fields. Here was my first clue something was wrong - the strawberry plants looked nothing like they should anymore; they were billions of bright red balloons sprouting from the ground, completely covering it, like an animation. Satyrs were tiptoeing over them and trying to pull them from the plants, but from what I could see, the plants were pretty strong. It took ten satyrs to pull one strawberry out.

We carried on, and passed some animals scurrying across the path. No, _some_ is an understatement. Hundreds of rabbits blocked our path, and we had to wait thirty seconds for them to pass. There were so many, they could have easily overcome us if they'd wanted to. Death by rabbits. That'd be a unique way to die.

Things were a little strange, but not _go to Manhattan and drag Percy back _strange.

We reached the cabins. The place was practically deserted, except for a few satyrs. Chiron was talking to Clarisse outside the Ares cabin. Approaching them, I noticed they quickly stopped talking when they saw us coming.

"Took you long enough." Greeted Clarisse.

"Hello to you too." I said.

"Why don't you get jealous of her?" piped up Rachel to Annabeth. Both me and Clarisse gagged, Annabeth looked like she was holding back a laugh.

"Percy, it's good to see you." Said Chiron.

"Hi." I said awkwardly. "Um, why am I here?"

"I'll let Clarisse explain that."

I looked at her. She took a breath. "I've been granted a quest. I wanted you two to come with me."

Raising my eyebrows, I was genuinely surprised. "Seriously? Geez Clarisse, you're going to have to be careful, people will start to think you don't actually hate us."

"I can change my mind in a second." She growled.

"Sure, we'll come." Said Annabeth, "What's the quest?"

"It would appear that when you went on your father's quest, you may have… Angered the lord of the dead. He's abandoned all his duties; nothing is dying. You may have seen some of the effects on the way down here."

"Okay…" I said slowly. "What's wrong with nothing dying?" Annabeth sighed exasperatedly; Clarisse looked at me like I was as clever as a strip of seaweed.

"Because if _nothing dies," _she said, very slowly, "_then the whole circle of life gets ruined._"

"Why?" I asked stupidly.

"Let me explain." Interjected Annabeth sarcastically. "We eat animals. But when we die, our bodies become the grass, and the animals eat the grass. And so we are all connected in the great Circle of Life."

"Annabeth are you quoting the Lion King?" I asked incredulously.

"Maybe." She said.

"Hey, I watched that the other day." Piped up Rachel.

"Good for you." Annabeth said sarcastically.

"W-"

"Anyway," Chiron interrupted, obviously not wanting a murder on his hands, "Essentially, Annabeth is right." he told me. "Though I may not eat many animals, you get the picture. If we can't die, the circle of life doesn't happen, and all creatures live in misery."

Clarisse was humming Disney songs on Chiron's left. "Oh I just can't wait to be ki-"

"Right…" I continued, "So what are we supposed to do?"

"We're supposed to find Hades." Clarisse said.

"So we're going back to the Underworld?"

"No." said Chiron. Seeing the confused look on my face, he added, "Hermes has been down to deliver messages to him from the other Gods. He's not there."

"So… where is he?"

"No one knows." Chiron continued. "Poseidon has sent out search parties, and none of them have reported Hades' aura, so we can rule out the ocean. Zeus has said the same with the sky, but he could be anywhere on land."

"So basically," I said hopelessly, "Out of the whole earth, the only thing we can rule out is the ocean?"

"Hey, that's 71% of the planet." Annabeth informed me.

"And we can rule out 100% of the sky." Clarisse said.

"How're we even supposed to know where to start?" I asked, bewildered.

"Gods always leave traces Percy. Think of it like the satyr's search for Pan. He could have been anywhere, but they had an idea of where he was."

"And two thousand years later, _bam! _They found him!" I said. This quest was hopeless.

"Look Jackson, are you with me or not?" demanded Clarisse. Remembering how she had agreed to the underworld with me on what seemed like a hopeless quest, I nodded. She turned to Annabeth, who said "Sure."

"Good." Clarisse relaxed a little. "And actually, we have an idea where he might be."

"Where?" I asked.

"Pompeii." Chiron announced. "He was there when it happened. And it's also where he met Nico's mother. He was particularly attached to her, and she was killed by the Gods."

"Okay." Clarisse said. "We're leaving tomorrow morning, as early as possible, so get some sleep."

"But I'm not tir-"

"Jackson!"

Horrified, I realised what I'd just signed up to. Not only a quest with _Clarisse, _but a quest with _Clarisse in charge._

I walked Annabeth over to her cabin. "Does this quest not seem a little...?" I began.

"Impossible? Yeah. But it's not the first time." She finished.

We reached her cabin, she stayed at the doorway for a second. For a moment, it looked like mine – completely empty. Then one of Annabeth's half-brothers popped up from behind a bed.

"See you in the morning." I said.

"Yeah. Where do you think Clarisse will take us?"

"A high cliff perhaps. She wouldn't miss this golden opportunity."

"I wouldn't be so sure. The third quest with her this year - I think she might like you." I gave her an evil stare. "You even look like her right now."

"Great. Night."

"Night." She replied, and kissed me. .

I found my way back to my cabin, but just as I was about to step inside, a hand grabbed my arm and pulled me back. Nico was dragging me away from the Cabins. "Nico w-"

"Be quiet." He whispered. "I need to tell you something."

He led me to a small clearing of trees in the forest. The red sky was just visible through the leaves.

"You... You can't go on this quest." He told me.

"Um, why not?" I asked, confused.

He looked like he was at war with himself. "…Because."

"You're going to have to give me more than that Nico."

"I can't… I can't tell you."

"Then I'm going." I said.

"Please! Look, he's my dad, I know you won't find him, just please-"

"Nico, we're going to find him."

The kid looked genuinely distraught; bags pulled down his eyes, and I'm not sure if it was the lighting, but his face looked pale green. He looked like he had a wrestling match going on in his head. "You don't _know _what _I know._" He finished.

"Well what do you know?"

"I… I j- You can't go! You just can't!"

"Nic-"

"Ugh!" he made a frustrated noise, and ran off in the other direction, leaving me as confused as hell.


	11. Chapter 11

**Annabeth and I Adopt Gollum**

People were in my cabin.

Rubbing my eyes, I registered that these people were Annabeth and Clarisse.

"Why are you in here?" I asked no one in particular.

"Because we need to go, and I think you've got my cap in one of your bags." Squinting through the darkness, I saw Annabeth and Clarisse rummaging through my stuff.

"Jackson, why do you have hair bands in here?"

"They're Annabeth's." I told her groggily. Had I been awake longer than thirty seconds, I probably would have told Clarisse to get away from my stuff. And to get out of my cabin.

"Well hurry up, we're going to go in a minute."

"Clarisse…" I said slowly, "The sun hasn't risen yet."

"So?"

"So, when you said we're going tomorrow, I assumed that you meant the next day. _Day._"

"Don't forget who's in charge of this quest." she said dangerously.

"Percy where's my cap?" Annabeth asked.

"Umm… didn't you put it in a bag?"

"Percy! I need it!"

"Annabeth." I was still not properly awake. "_I do not know where it is._"

"Jackson, get out of bed!" ordered Clarisse.

Figuring I'd deal with the mess they'd made in the real morning, I turned over in my bed. Hopefully Annabeth's cap was long gone, and would take them a few more hours to find.

"Percy!" Annabeth had grabbed my arm and was dragging me out of bed. My stuff was strewn across the floor.

"We didn't bring all this stuff." I stated.

"Hermes stopped by with some of your stuff last night. Apparently Poseidon had ordered him to go and get it. The gods are really keen for you to do this quest." She was speaking, but her words were flying in and out of my head. The moon was still out.

After we'd found Annabeth's cap, and Clarisse screamed at me (waking up the entire camp) because I hadn't packed a bag, they left to get some breakfast. Leaving me with an explosion of possessions on my floor and the tedious task of packing a bag. Slowly, I scavenged for the things I needed. Half an hour later they were back again; Clarisse with a bag on her back, and Annabeth with a few pieces of toast.

"Here you go." She handed me the toast, and started to check I had everything I needed in my bag. I swear, if I went through her bag, my throat would have been slit.

"Okay," said Clarisse, "We've got $200 mortal money, 10 drachmas, some food and water, and three plane tickets."

"Right." I yawned.

"Percy, wake up!" Clarisse shouted.

"I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to be in here."

She ignored me. "Right has everybody got everything?"

Annabeth and I nodded; Clarisse swung her own backpack over her shoulder.

Getting to the top of the hill, two people were approaching us, who on closer inspection proved to be Nico and Grover.

"Good luck guys!" Grover called. I shouted back a thanks, and Grover carried on, starting to talk to a tree. Ignoring this, I saw Nico closely following him, looking sulky and avoiding my eye. What was wrong with him?

The battered old car was waiting for us at the top of the hill. We all climbed in, Clarisse on her own in the front, and me and Annabeth behind. Surprisingly, neither of us volunteered to sit with Clarisse. Shoved in between Annabeth and I was all the bags. I was wedged in between the luggage and the door, and if I wanted to see Annabeth I had to practically stand up.

The car journey was long and tedious. Soon enough though, we were out of the car and stepping into JFK airport. In the distance, planes were taking off into the clear sky. Usually, the colour blue calmed me down, but seeing it in the sky made me want to run for the hills.

Clarisse led us into the airport. Annabeth checked us in with three tickets to Naples airport. We headed through customs – I had to hold my breath when Annabeth went through (I wouldn't have been surprised if she'd have brought her knife).

Finally, the time came to get on the plane. Shivers ran down my body as I stepped onto the tunnel – I hated flying. We filed into our seats – Annabeth insisted on sitting next to the window. The seats were separated into three columns by two aisles. There were four seats on the sides and three seats in the middle. There were no three seat rows left, so we sat in a four seat row, but Clarisse was asked to move within a minute because a woman and a baby had to sit together. Whilst the air hostess demonstrated where the exits were, the mother and Annabeth listened whilst I made faces at the baby.

"…There are several emergency exits on this aircraft," (that got my attention.) "Please take a few moments now to locate your nearest exit. In some cases, your nearest exit may be behind you. If we need to evacuate the aircraft, floor-level lighting will guide you towards the exit. Doors can be opened by moving the handle in the direction of the arrow. Each door is equipped with an inflatable slide which may also be detached and used as a life raft."

The air hostesses were flapping their arms around like demented birds. Couldn't they see how unhelpful this was? I had no clue where the door that they were pointing at was, never mind how to use it.

The plane was very warm, and made me feel like I was going to suffocate. We were sat not far from the front of the plane, which didn't make me feel better – we'd be first to crash into the ground.

"Oxygen and the air pressure are always being monitored. In the event of a decompression, an oxygen mask will automatically appear in front of you. To start the flow of oxygen, pull the mask towards you. Place it firmly over your nose and mouth, secure the elastic band behind your head, and breathe normally. Although the bag does not inflate, oxygen is flowing to the mask. If you are travelling with a child or someone who requires assistance, secure your mask on first, and then assist the other person. Keep your mask on until a uniformed crew member advises you to remove it."

The ADHD part of me started looking for a way an oxygen mask could just magically appear in front of you. They should give everyone a practice with these things; I wouldn't have a clue what to do in a 'decompression.' I didn't know what that was, but it definitely did not sound good.

"How likely is it that we'll need these?" I whispered to Annabeth.

"Very low." She replied, annoyed that I'd interrupted.

"How low?"

"Lower than the car crash rate."

"But cars aren't ten miles up in the sky." I worried. Annabeth shushed me.

The pilot carried on listing things that weren't allowed – smoking, moving, cell phones. Literally two seconds after he'd said this, a woman's phone started ringing. I made a mental note of who was to blame if the plane crashed and burned.

The plane started to move, going at a very slow rate towards to runway. Not slow enough. Through Annabeth's window, I could see another plane in front of us taking off. I wanted to shout to the driver to slow down; what if we crashed into the other one?

Annabeth was staring at me, I realised I was tapping my hands and feet; fidgeting like a madman. She took my hand; how could she be so calm? Feeling my fingers against hers only made me realise how much they were shaking.

"…We wish you all an enjoyable flight." The pilot said. _Yeah right, _I thought. Surely no human being could enjoy this unnatural sensation.

The plane started rolling along the runway, getting faster. I held my breath. The wheels bumped. Holding onto Annabeth's hand for dear life, I closed my eyes. I was shaking so bad it was like I was on vibrate. I felt us moving. We were falling, I was sure of it. There was no way this contraption could fly us to Italy. We were on our way to inevitable death. But no one sounded panicked. Upon opening my eyes again, I saw that we were in the air.

"This is horrible." I stated.

"I think you turned my hand blue." Annabeth told me as she observed her hand that was still grasped tightly by mine.

"My ears have popped."

"You've flown before; you've never been this bothered."

"Yes," I said slowly, "but that was before Zeus told me that he'd blast me out of the sky if I stepped foot on a plane again. I wasn't too keen on it back then either."

You see, Gods don't all get along like they do in Hercules. If a son of Poseidon goes into the air, there's a good chance that he's going to come back down as a pile of ash. If a son of Zeus goes into the sea, it's likely he's going to end up working in the Chum Bucket trying to steal the Krabby Patty formula.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Captain has turned off the Fasten Seat Belt sign, and you may now move around the cabin." What maniac would want to do that? This seatbelt was not coming off at all. I was sure of that.

The hours dragged on. Slowly. Annabeth took out some of her plans for rebuilding Olympus. It all looked pretty good, considering I didn't understand any of it. The baby next to me was looking at me mischievously – his mom was staring intently at her Greek book, and he had nothing to do.

Poking my tongue out (because I was just that bored); I started making faces at it. It laughed, but not in a _haha, you're funny _kind of way, but a _haha you look like an idiot_. My new friend lost interest in me and started playing with his pointed teeth. Bored, I turned around.

"What are you doing?" I asked Annabeth. Without even looking up, she replied,

"Blueprints."

"That's helpful."

"Well that's what I'm doing."

"I would never have guessed. What are you doing _with_ them?"

"Do you even care?" she asked me doubtfully.

"Of course I care. I love… support beams." She pulled a face at me, letting me know that I was not funny. "Seriously, tell me about this." I said, gesturing to the blueprints.

"The Empire State Building?"

"You're redesigning the Empire State Building?" I asked incredulously. "You know that it's already been built, right?"

"Percy, what do you want?"

"I'm bored!" I exclaimed. "I'm stuck in the sky in a flying death trap and I'm _bored._"

She wasn't even listening. She was immersed in her blueprints. The woman next to me flicked the page in her book. Clarisse was just visible a few rows down, sleeping. _Sleeping._ How do you sleep knowing you could go crashing to the ground any second? When I turned around, the woman sitting next to us had gone. Figuring she'd just left for the toilet or something, I turned to the baby. A devilish grin spread across his face, showing off his fangs.

Wait. Fangs?

"Annabeth." She ignored me. "Annabeth. Annabeth. Annabeth. Annabeth." Annoyed that she could block me out so easily, I continued, "I was talking to Rachel the other day…"

"What?" she said in a loud whisper, dropping her blueprints. "Per-"

"Ha. Knew that'd get your attention. There's something wrong with that kid."

"What kid?"

"The one sitting next to us!"

"Percy, that family left like five minutes ago." She informed me. Turning around, I saw that the baby had indeed gone. "No…" I said, confused, "no, it was here. It had fangs; its mom was reading a Greek book!"

She raised an eyebrow. "I think you're just imagining things Percy."

Was I? It was possible, I was pretty bored. Reaching absentmindedly for my pocket, I realised something was missing. I was not dreaming – Riptide had gone.

"They've pickpocketed me!"

"What?" said Annabeth blankly.

"My sword! It's gone!"

"That pen is impossible to lose. You've lost it. Congratulations."

"Seriously!"

"Percy Jackson, everyone, the greatest hero of the age."

"If it's gone, that means there's something weird going on, and if I don't get that back we're all defenceless."

That got her attention. Unfastening her seatbelt, she asked "Were you serious about Rachel?"

"No!" I said exasperatedly. "Come on!"

I almost fell over the second I stood up. Feeling like I was about to throw up, I stumbled over to Clarisse. Unwillingly, I woke her up. I proceeded to tell her about my sword.

She blinked. "You were robbed by a baby?"

"Come on!" I said.

If something could take Riptide, something was seriously wrong. It magically returns to my pocket. No matter what.

The three of us walked down the aisle. Many families were oblivious to us, occupied with their kids. When we reached the bottom, we saw it, right next to the entrance to the toilets. It was a small… thing. It had small knobbly legs and arms thin as twigs. Black beads rested in its eye sockets. It was a sickly green colour, and a mischievous grin was spread across its face. A few greasy hairs lay over its head. All it wore was a dirty white pillowcase. "Gollum?" I suggested to the girls, confusedly.

"It looks more like Dobby." Said Annabeth.

"You mean you don't know?" Clarisse asked incredulously.

"Maybe it's an elf." I said.

"Or a gnome." Annabeth looked ashamed. "Anyway, it looks harmless."

Clutched in its hand was Riptide, still in pen form. Harmless though it may be, I lunged at it, trying to get my sword back. Surprisingly quickly, it dodged me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw it take in a deep breath and hold its nose. Silvery smoke engulfed it, wrapping itself around the creature. The greenish colour of its skin was only just visible through the smoke, and it was changing from green to silver. Clarisse and Annabeth stood and watched, as shocked as I was. The smoke started to dissipate, and when it had faded, a four year old boy was standing before us.

He ran innocently down the aisle and we followed him. Annabeth and I tried to make it out like we were playing a game with the kid, but Clarisse ruined the image by shouting "Get back here you little…" Many astounded looks were aimed our way.

"Just a game that we play with our… brother." I tried to reassure the indignant moms and dads looking daggers at us.

Reaching the front of the aeroplane, we followed it into an empty air hostess room. It turned to look at us, then pulled back the red curtains. Smoke started to creep its way through the gaps in the curtains – it was changing again. Clarisse dived through them, trying to grab the boy before it disappeared, but she was grasping at thin air. It was gone. Clarisse was wrapped up in red velvety curtains that she'd pulled off the rail in her attempt to get it. We helped her up, and started surveying the aisles for someone that we'd not seen before, someone who could be the Gollum creature. Everyone looked familiar; there was no one that could have just appeared out of thin air.

From behind me, I heard a deep voice, say "Hey, I'm Josh. Where are you from?" Turning around, I saw teenager – dark hair, blue eyes, tall – talking to Annabeth.

"Um…" she said. I took a moment to assess the situation. Now I came to think of it, I'd never seen this guy on the plane. Clarisse was checking the aisles, but didn't seem to be having any look finding the Gollum. It clicked. _He was the Gollum. _Putting him into a headlock, I waited for him to change back.

"What the?"

"Percy?" Clarisse walked over and said. "I don't think that's the Dobby."

"Oh well." I sighed, keeping him in the headlock. "Have you found it?"

"Yeah, I think it's an old woman walking down the aisle with a ballpoint pen in her hand."

Annabeth was smiling at me.

"Your boyfriend is a freaking weirdo!" Josh screamed. I let him go and he stormed off.

"What's his problem?" I asked Annabeth. She laughed, and pulled me into a kiss. It was worth the stern look we got off an air hostess who interrupted, who only saw the broken curtain rail.

"Hurry up you two!" Clarisse yelled. I grinned, and we followed Clarisse. She was tailing an old woman, who was hobbling along the aisle as quickly as she could. Suddenly, Clarisse pounced on the old woman, halfway down the aisle. It was a strange sight. She'd crushed her and was wrestling with her on the ground. Praying to the Gods that it was actually the Gollum, and that Clarisse wasn't going to get arrested for harassing a helpless old woman, I began to pull Clarisse of her. Many people looked… extremely shocked.

"Umm…" I mumbled. I grabbed the old woman's wrist. It was definitely the Gollum. She had riptide clutched in her bony old fingers. Helping her up, I said "Come on… Grandma."

"Clarisse, what have I told you! Don't get out of your seat; you haven't had any of your medication!" Annabeth shouted. A few people turned away. Clarisse looked daggers at her. Suppressing a laugh, I gripped the wrist of the old woman tightly.

"I'm sorry about her." Annabeth said to me.

"That's alright, I think she's fine." I gestured to my 'grandma'.

Annabeth led Clarisse up one way, and I led the Gollum the other way. We met up at our seats. Annabeth sat down and looked out the window, then regarded the Gollum. "We could chuck him into the sea."

"Do not under any circumstances open the window; we will be sucked out and fall to our death." I stated, plonking myself into the seat next to her.

"Okay, what are you?" Clarisse asked the Gollum in a harsh whisper. It was back into its creepy green figure; its beady eyes staring up at us.

"A Kobalos." It squeaked. It sounded a bit like George or Martha, without the hissing. Annabeth sighed behind me. "I should've known that." She said, annoyed.

"No need to beat yourself up." I told her. "Why are you on this plane?" I asked the Kobalos.

"Why not?" it replied. "Demigods are lots of fun. They get angry easily."

"Now I come to think about it, I'll have that back thanks." Taking Riptide back made it snarl.

"What do we do with it?" Clarisse asked.

"Let me go!"

"We could kill it?" Annabeth suggested.

"Let's not."

"Will celestial bronze do?" I wondered.

"Please! I'll be good."

I kind of pitied it. It was pretty pathetic.

"I suppose we could let it go when we get to ground." I said.

"I like you, sea boy."

"I suppose…" Annabeth said slowly.

Clarisse looked at it with pure disgust. "And how do we explain that we're travelling with a Harry Potter character?" she spat.

"Don't worry about that sweetheart. Watch." It did its transforming thing, turning into a new born baby. "I won't even cry!" it told us, from the baby's mouth, which looked really creepy.

"Okay then." Annabeth said. Clarisse did not look happy with this. An air hostess walked by, slightly surprised that such a young baby was sat in its own seat. Hastily, I picked it up.

"Umm, here you go Annabeth."

"Why do I have to take it?"

"You've got two little brothers."

"So?"

"So you have experience with this type of thing."

Reluctantly, she took it off me. "I'm not carrying it all the way there you know."

An old woman walked past, and made a loud 'tut' when she saw us.

"What was that about?" I asked when she was out of earshot.

"You look like teen parents." Clarisse sniggered. We both went a deep shade of red.

The Gollum questioned us for a while about where we were going. Clarisse shoved her hand over my mouth before I could say anything, telling it that it was classified.

"What's up with the Ares chick?" the baby whispered to me when she'd sat back down in her seat.

"Well, thanks to you, everyone on the plane thinks she's mental." I replied.

"Maybe she is. Jumping on old women, real or not, is not cool man."

"You didn't really give her much choice." Annabeth told it.

"Whilst she's not listening, how's about telling me this quest of yours?"

"Why?" Annabeth asked suspiciously.

"There's this thing called curiosity-"

"We're trying to fix the god's mess." I told him.

"I got you there dude. Which one? No wait- let me guess, Hera? Man, she is a bitch and a half. Proper stuck up. You know once, _way way _back, I met that Heracles guy – Hercules, as all those mortals are calling him nowadays, ask me, Heracles is way cooler, reminds me of a hen. Anyways, he was gonna kill me and stuff but then he was like hey, we're cool, but then load of goddamn monsters came along, sent by Hera. Sweet Odysseus I almost died. Never spoke to the guy again after he dumped me as a 'gift' to some Lydian Queen. Man, she was smokin'. Apparently, Zeus hung Hera off Mount Olympus for the stuff she did to his son. Ha! Dude, she is harsh. Gets jealous real easy, you know what I mean? Real nasty."

"Tell me about it." Annabeth said. I could see these two getting along.

"Wants a perfect family, you know? Threw Hephaestus of Olympus. Then again, she married her own brother, so excuuuuse me, but incest means a pretty screwed family if you ask me."

"Well it's not Hera, it's Hades." I informed him.

"Dude, you pulled the short straw going to see him. The guy lives with dead people after all." He said. "So, what's been going on in the wonderful world of camp half-blood lately? I've not heard anything since at least a hundred years ago. Is that curse still on the oracle?"

"No, there's a new one now." I informed him.

Annabeth became very stiff in her seat.

"Oh, that's new. The last one was pretty hot, but then she became all mummified, and, well then she was gross. What's the new one like?"

Annabeth looked at me expectantly and raised an eyebrow. "Why are you asking me, man?" was the only thing I could think to say.

"Ooh, jealousy. Let me get my popcorn." said the baby. "So tell me everything guys."

"What?" I asked incredulously.

"Love triangle? I've seen some good ones of those. Helen, Paris and Oenone. Someone should have made a movie of that one. Then of course there's Narcissus, Echo and Narcissus… So what's happened?"

"Nothing!" I told him.

Annabeth looked at me. "You went to see her when I was dead!"

"I thought we'd got past that?" I asked tiredly. She began to laugh. Girls were confusing.

"Wait what? You were dead? Woah, the plot thickens." The baby said. "So like, your girlfriend died and you went to this other girl for some comfort?"

"No!" I almost shouted.

"Hey, man, it's cool, I totally get you. Once, there was this cute wood nymph, but those mortals cut her tree down. I was pretty torn up." he told us.

"Is… Is that the end of that story?" Annabeth asked.

"Yep. Never got over her."

"Oh… sorry?" I said confusedly.

"It's cool man, I made it up. It's called _lying_. Something you should learn to do so your girlfriend doesn't find out you were with some other girl whilst she was dead."

I felt like they were ganging up on me.

"So I thought Athena and Poseidon hated each other's guts?" he asked.

"He's not that bad. A little annoying." Annabeth told it.

"I expect you've not got your parents blessing." Silence met his words. "I'll take that as a no. Forbidden love; now that makes for some good adult movies. If you two had kids, I expect they'd be pretty bipolar wouldn't they? Damn, that'd be one powerful kid."

The boy named Josh walked past us. He looked at us, as if terrified. The baby put on a deep voice and said, "Keep walking boy." Josh whimpered, and ran away down the aisle. I burst out laughing. _I could learn to like Gollum, _I thought.

"Yo, Athena girl." The baby addressed Annabeth. "I need some food."

"We have to feed you?" she asked incredulously.

"God help your future kids." Clarisse stated from the end of the row.

"Well I can't do it myself." He said, raising his baby hands.

"You could help." I suggested to Clarisse.

"And ruin this dysfunctional family picture? I don't think so."

Annabeth fed him some of an apple from her backpack. After about five minutes, she gave up. "Your turn." She told me, shoving it into my arms.

"Why?"

"You think I'm doing all the work?"

"Will _someone_ feed me?" the baby said.

"When you two have kids, can I watch you fail to bring them up?" asked Clarisse.

I took the baby and finished feeding it. It curled up on my lap and fell to sleep. Which was unfortunate, because I was in a really uncomfortable position. Clarisse was snoring one seat down. The outside of the window had darkened; half the windows were shut. Most people were asleep.

"They're surprisingly alike." I stated, looking between Clarisse and the baby.

"I think Dobby is cuter." Annabeth said.

"I'd have to agree with you there." She laughed. Outside the window, the sun had set and it was pitch black. "How long 'til we get there?" I asked.

"About an hour now." She told me.

"What are we going to do with him?"

"Is it a him?"

"I think it is. But I'm not checking." I looked at him pitifully. He'd grown on me. "We can't just… dump him, though."

"I'm sure he knows where he wants to go." Annabeth said.

I'd always thought babies were a bit annoying, but as the freak lay curled up on my lap, I think I changed my mind.


	12. Chapter 12

**I Meet Annabeth's brothers**

Thank the gods, we landed safely. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Naples Airport. Local time is 4:13 am and the temperature is 23 °c.

For your safety and comfort, we ask that you please remain seated with your seat belt fastened until the Captain turns off the Fasten Seat Belt sign. This will indicate that we have parked at the gate and that it is safe for you to move about."

"Does he have a passport?" Annabeth whispered. The baby produced one out of thin air.

"Problem solved." I replied.

"We remind you to please wait until inside the terminal to use any electronic devices, or to smoke in the designated areas."

"Won't it seem suspicious that we've got a new baby and no luggage for it?" Clarisse asked.

"No, you get strollers and stuff in baggage reclaim."

"Clarisse, it's your turn to carry him."

"No, I think I want my new mommy and daddy to carry me." The baby informed us.

"What?" exclaimed Annabeth and I in a loud whisper.

"Come on guys, it'll be good practise."

"On behalf of Breeze Airlines and the entire crew, I'd like to thank you for joining us on this trip and we are looking forward to seeing you on board again in the near future. Have a nice stay!"

The light above our heads went off and we unclipped our seatbelts. Passing the baby to Clarisse whilst I stepped out of the aisle, I took a moment to stand up. I felt like I was about to pass out.

Clarisse informed me that carrying a baby did not mean that I did not have to carry my backpack as well. She shoved my bag and the baby into my arms at the same time, as if it was a time bomb.

"Oi, you're holding me in a really awkward position here." The baby said.

"Shut up before someone hears you!" I ordered. Trying to hold him in an easier way, (which was hard with him squirming so much) I made way for Annabeth to get out. We pushed our way down to the exit of the plane.

At customs, we were drawing many strange looks. Partly, because we were a bunch of teenagers with a new born baby, and partly because no one had forgotten Clarisse's little scene with the old woman.

We had to wait in line to get our passport checked. Unfortunately, the baby couldn't seem to keep its mouth shut. People were in danger of seeing it talk.

"Hey Sea boy, can you get your hand away from my crotch?"

"Do you want me to just carry you by your neck?"

"I want you to cradle me in your arms."

"You're so annoying!"

We handed the baby's passport in, and the guard looked at us sceptically. The lady that checked it looked us up and down; asking, "Who's the mother?"

"Her." Clarisse said hastily, pushing Annabeth forward. Willing myself not to go red, because it would have been unconvincing, I found a thread in my jumper and became very interested in it. After deciding that we were legit, she let us go. We walked away as quickly as possible without looking suspicious.

When we got out of the airport. It was still early morning; the darkness was clinging to the rays of light cast by the morning sun. Clarisse marched us to the pickup centre before saying, "Right, time for you to go now. Where can we leave you?"

"Aw, can't I come?" the baby asked.

Personally, I had no objection to this, but Clarisse had said "No." before I could get a word in.

"Gee, and I thought I'd made some friends." The baby declared sadly. Annabeth and I were looking at it pitifully, but Clarisse, seeing our faces, told it before we could argue, "We're going on a dangerous enough quest already, I don't need someone else to keep safe."

"He could be useful." I interjected.

"No!" Clarisse barked. "He is not coming, and that is final!"

"All right!" exclaimed the baby. Holding his breath, he transformed into his real self. "I'm off." Hanging his head, he strolled off down the street. I felt like my child was going to school for the first time, except that he wasn't coming back. I shook this thought out of my head. I had no children.

Annabeth looked very depressed.

"Right, where are we?" Clarisse asked.

"Naples Airport." Annabeth told her solemnly.

"Yeah, I know. How do we get from here to Pompeii? Do we walk?"

"Are you crazy?" said Annabeth, bewildered. "It's like 30km. We'd have to walk on the route controlled by the local mafia. And there's armed pickpockets everywhere!"

"Okay, okay, I get it. How do we get there then?"

"There's a shuttle bus that will take us to the train station."

"Let's go then." Clarisse said. "Cheer up! You don't have to play mommy and daddy anymore."

Silence met her words. She led us into the airport. It was a giant glass building, where the windows were so polished they were like a mirror, with the floors equal immaculate. "Wait, we need to exchange money if we're going to buy train tickets." Annabeth informed us, whilst searching in her bag for something.

"Exchange money?" Clarisse asked,

"They don't accept dollars here." She looked very concerned. "Percy, hold this for a second."

I held the bag open for her with one hand and used the other to hold everything she was shoving at me. The airport was a very shiny place. I could see Annabeth's worried reflection staring into the mirror bag.

"What're you looking for?" I asked.

"My cap."

"You've lost it again?" I said incredulously. She looked at me dangerously.

"It must be…" turning around, she started to walk away, the way we had just come; outside.

"Um, Annabeth? Where you going?" Clarisse asked.

"I've got to go and find it. I think I know where it is. You two go exchange the money."

Annabeth set off to find her cap (which I was beginning to think was more trouble than it was worth), and Clarisse and I started to look for a place you could exchange money. This was the first time I'd ever been abroad, and the only currency I'd ever used was dollars. Schools just don't teach you how to do useful stuff; like this.

"I think it says exchange over there." Clarisse said. Following her gaze, I saw she was looking at a large blue sign, with green italic letters on. With dyslexia, this was basically impossible to read. I shrugged, and we walked over to the desk.

"Excuse me, can you change money here?" Clarisse asked boldly.

"Yes. How much?" The woman behind the counter had short brown hair, and wore the same uniform as the rest of the staff – Blue blazers and red ties. She spoke with an Italian accent. Clarisse pushed $150 onto the counter; we decided that we'd probably need some if we got back home.

Sometime later, we had 108 euros in our hands. We turned and surveyed the crowd of people with suitcases and strollers and Annabeth was not there.

Tick tock, half an hour later, Annabeth was still not here.

"We should've gone with her." I said to Clarisse.

"I'm sure she's just lost."

"And if she's not?"

"She can take care of herself." Clarisse told me. "Just relax. She had her bag with her; we can just phone her on her cell."

"Thank the gods, do you have her number?"

"You don't have your girlfriend's phone number?"

"I don't have my _own_ phone number."

"Well it looks like we're stuck now, then."

"I know her house number." I suggested.

"Well it's very lucky that she's a continent away from her house."

"Her family will have her phone number."

"Do you have any idea how much overseas phone calls cost?" I looked at her threateningly. Reluctantly, she handed me her cell phone. I typed the number, praying that there was someone home.

"Hello?" A young boy's voice answered the phone. "Who is it?"

"Hi," I said, slightly nervous. Whenever I'd phoned before, Annabeth had picked up. "I'm Percy. Is this Bobby or Matthew?" Annabeth has two little twin brothers; even she has difficulty telling them apart.

"Matthew."

"Who is it?" said an identical voice in the background.

"I don't know. He said he's called Percy."

"Matthew! Put it on speakerphone!"

"Why?"

"That's Annabeth's _boyfriend." _

"Oh yeah! I forgot."

"Um," I managed, "Is your dad th-"

"Annabeth always talks about you. Not to us, but we heard her talking to mom."

"Did it really take you five years to realise she liked you?"

"I mean sheesh, take a hint."

"Um…" I said.

"Who's _Rachel_? Annabeth said she hates her."

"Apparently she dresses up as a statue."

"Have you ever kissed Annabeth?"

"Have you ever seen her naked?"

"Are you going to marry her?"

"I wouldn't."

"Obviously, she's your sister."

"Yeah, but can you imagine?"

"Her vows would be about construction work."

"She's so annoying."

"_Did you know that the angles of the Eiffel Tower_…"

"Is it true that you were a guinea pig once?"

"And that you blew up in a volcano?"

"That is _so cool_!"

"Annabeth says you're really stupid."

"She says everyone is really stupid."

"I guess."

"Can you get your da-" I interjected.

"You're the sea god's son."

"Can you go underwater?"

"Can you make those big twisty things that suck things up?"

"A whirlpool?"

"Yeah! Can you make those?"

"Can you ride sharks and stuff?"

"If we ever meet you can you show us?"

"Annabeth's power is _wisdom_."

"How interesting."

"She's never shown us anything cool."

"Did you really see pirates?"

"And giant sea monsters?"

"I really need to talk to your da-"

"I saw an octopus once."

"_Are there giant sea creatures_?"

"Is Megatron really buried in the sea?"

"If you and Annabeth had kids, would they be clever people or sea people?"

"They'd probably be clever sea people."

"Do mermaids exist?"

"_Mermaids?_"

"Not like Barbie mermaids."

"Well then what type of mermaid?"

"Like fish people?"

"Can you turn into a fish person?"

"Were you born in the sea?"

"Are you in the sea now?"

"No." I said. "We're in Italy. And I really need to talk to your d-"

"Italy?"

"Why?"

"Ohh."

"What?"

"Venice is in Italy."

"So?"

"Venice, the city of _love._"

"I need to throw up."

"She never tells us where she's going."

"She never even told us she was going to your camp."

"Percy." Clarisse was trying to get my attention. "I only have so many calls on that thing. Hurry up."

"I'm trying!"

"Trying what?" said one of the twins.

"Probably Annabeth bossing you about."

"Can we talk to her?"

"She can't right now," I said, now that they had paused to take a breath. "Do you have her cell phone number?"

"Sure, it's in this book."

"Let me find it."

"No, I wanna!"

"If we find it, will you show us what you can do in the sea?"

"Sure." I told them exasperatedly.

"Will she be under A or C?"

"I think A."

"Let's see."

"David Adams, Tom Anderson, Hannah Abbott- "

"She's from Harry Potter!"

"Oh yeah!"

"Guys?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah. Nathan Ashton, American Apparel-"

"I think she may be under C." I said, trying not to sound impatient.

"C. Oh look, she's the first one. Her number is…"

Finally, I got her number written on my arm.

"Thanks." I told them.

"Remember, trip to the sea."

"Bye!"


	13. Chapter 13

**A Bond girl rescues us from the suicidal Mafia.**

Immediately, Clarisse snatched her phone off me. Dialling her number, she gave me a dirty look."Do you have any idea how much that will have cost me?"

"Can you put it on loudspeaker?" I asked.

The phone rang.

And rang.

And rang.

"Hello?" answered a shaky voice.

"Annabeth? Annabeth are you okay?" I demanded.

"Well…"

A deeper, masculine voice spoke. "Get outside, take two lefts and go down the alleyway. Come in through the back. Otherwise we'll slit your girlfriend's throat."

Clarisse grabbed the back of the neck of my top, because I'd already set off in that direction.

"What do you want?" she asked, silently wrestling me whilst I tried to get free.

"Never mind that, girl. Just do what I said. You have five minutes."

"If you hurt her I –" I said, grabbing the phone.

"Then she'll be hurt. Don't threaten me. Five minutes." He hung up.

I was having heart palpitations. Clarisse grabbed my arm.

"We can't go Jackson, it's obviously a trap."

"I don't care."

"We could at least try to make a plan."

"In five minutes? I'm going."

I marched off. Surprisingly, Clarisse followed behind. We exited the building. Outside there was a big road for picking up people from the airport.

I broke into a sprint. We had five minutes to get out of this massive car park and find Annabeth. Approaching the gates of the airport, I bumped into a teenager, with ginger hair. He had jeans and a white top. "Sorry." I began.

"Hey guys, miss me already?" he asked.

"Gollum?" I said tentatively. Clarisse sighed exasperatedly behind me.

"Dude. Call me anything except that."

"You've changed."

"I grow up fast. Think I was going to walk around town looking like myself?"

"Okay." I carried on through the gates.

"Hold it, wait up! What's the rush?"

"I've got to help Annabeth."

"The Athena girl? Count me in!"

"No!" Clarisse shouted.

"C'mon, I can help!"

I left them to argue; heading right into the trap. It was still only around half four in the morning, and I couldn't see much. Two lefts and down the alleyway. It was a gloomy place that the sun's rays didn't hit. Stray cats, thin as twigs, stalked along the garbage cans that had fallen over, strewing the cobbled floor with trash. The only light in the alleyway was coming from a backdoor that was hanging open. Assuming that was the one, I stepped in.

The room had wooden walls and floor. A round table was shoved into the corner, with bags of drachmas on it. The room was dimly lit by a few lanterns in the corners. Liquor stains were spread on the floor. A few guns were spread out on the far side of the room, ranging in size from small, lethal looking handguns to massive rifles.

Annabeth was tied up to a chair centred in the room. She was gagged, and a fat looking man was holding a knife to her throat. "Well well, look who has shown up."

"Let her go." I told him, a lot braver than I felt.

"Please. You are not in a position to make demands." He said. He was bald; the little hair he had left was curly black. He spoke with a stereotypical Italian accent. "Gag him."

Two men came up from behind him, dressed completely in black. Struggling, I tried to prevent them from tying my hands together and plastering duct tape across my mouth – it didn't do much difference. They tied me to a chair next to Annabeth.

"Stephen, we're out of duct tape." Said one of the men in black.

"Well go and get some more then!" huffed the original fat mobster, named Stephen. Fiddling with his knife, he asked, "So what's so special about you two? A lady came by before, offered me bags of great gold coins to get you captured. Useless, but I think the solid gold will sell for quite a bit."

So these were mortals? That was bad. Monsters, I could deal with. Riptide could kill them in a second. But a human… it'd just pass right through. I was so bothered about dealing with mythological –should-be-extinct monsters, I never even gave a second thought to the modern day ones.

"I told you, wait out-"

Clarisse and a ginger boy entered the room arguing. The men in black grabbed them immediately. Gollum was overpowered in a second, but Clarisse grabbed the man trying to capture her, and did some karate judo move, bringing him to the ground. I had to admit I was impressed. If she was armed, we probably could have gotten out of there right then. But she wasn't. Lazily, Stephen pulled out a handgun and pointed it at her. I made as loud of a mumbling noise as I could with my lips sealed together. She froze. The guy that she'd floored stood up, looking embarrassed and took her hands behind her back and held her in position.

"Gag them." Stephen ordered.

"I can't! I just told you: we're out of duct tape!" Man in black number two said.

"At a time like this? Luigi, you are absolutely useless. Remind me to kill you later."

"So what are we going to do with them?" asked Man in black number one.

"Some mobsters you are." Sniggered Clarisse.

"Would you shut up?" Gollum said.

"Stay out of it Dobby."

"Okay, let me get this straight: my name is not Gollum OR Dobby!"

"Take the tape off of the other two and shut these ones up. As soon as this is over, we are buying a month's supply of tape." Stephen ordered.

Ripping the tape off mine and Annabeth's mouths (not as painless as it looks in movies by the way) they stuck it onto Clarisse and Gollum's.

"You'll stay here until the woman who wants you arrives." Stephen informed us. "Then we will get our full pay." With that, Stephen and the men in black went into another room, speaking in Italian.

"Great." I sighed.

"I'm sorry, it's my fault." Annabeth said.

"No it's not." I told her. Clarisse leaned back and mumbled a sarcastic "mmmmm."

"Who do you think wanted us captured?" I asked.

"He said it was a woman…"

Clarisse started mumbling again. At least, if I was going to die, Clarisse was gagged and couldn't talk to me.

Clarisse began making noises again. She was trying to do something to the duct tape. She looked like she was making out with it. Within thirty seconds, it was off and she started to use her teeth to remove it. "Duct tape doesn't work twice, you idiots." She aimed at the door. Gollum was sat there silently, as if asleep.

"Gollum? Any suggestions?" I asked. A loud snort came from his chair.

"Wh- What?" he said, his gag peeling off.

"Were you sleeping?" Clarisse asked incredulously. "At a time like this!"

"Sweetheart, when you're me, every day is a day like this."

We were on four chairs, all back to back, facing outwards. "Did you find your invisibility cap?" Clarisse asked Annabeth.

"Yeah, I stuck it up the back of my top when they captured me."

Clarisse tried to move her hands, put they were tied together too well.

"Jackson, see if you can reach it." She ordered.

Awkwardly, I started trying to reach out my hands. When you watch stuff like this on TV at home, it's a lot easier and quicker than it looks. The men in black had tied it so my fingers were all locked down, and nothing could move. After about five minutes, I managed to wriggle my fingers free, so the rope was just holding my wrists to the chair. Waving my hands around behind, they found the back of Annabeth's chair.

"Percy? That's not my top. Bit further up." Annabeth told me.

"I'm trying!"

"Not the time or the place guys. " Clarisse said.

"Ah, maybe it is." Gollum sighed. "Tied up. Guns. Dangerous rescue mission. Pretty kinky if you ask me."

Finally, I got my hand up Annabeth's top (shut up) and got her cap.

"Do not drop that." Clarisse warned.

We'd got the cap, but now it was stuck behind the chairs; no one could get it anywhere near their heads.

"Can you not get out of here?" Annabeth asked Gollum.

"Sure I can."

"Well do it then!" Clarisse barked.

"No need to shout, it's still early in the morning." Replied Gollum smoothly.

He was sat back to back with me, so I couldn't see him, but I was pretty sure that he'd changed. Partly because a woman had just appeared in front of me, straight out of a James Bond film. Hair clipped back in an elegant way, she wore blood red lipstick and a black dress.

She untied us. Annabeth put on her cap straight away, disappearing.

"What's with the costume?" Clarisse asked.

"I thought I should look the part."

"I thought you were a dude, man." I told him (or her).

"Generally." He replied.

We must have made some noise, because the mobsters came back in. For a moment, they looked outraged that we'd escaped. Then they saw Gollum.

"_Come stai_?" Stephen said to Gollum, in what was probably the most seductive voice he could muster.

Gollum raised an eyebrow. "You're definitely no Joey Tribbiani sweetheart." She told him.

Face returning to outrage, he boomed "What're you doing in my house?"

"Well, I doubt that it's _yours,_ honey." Gollum said pointedly.

Stephen looked bewildered. I would have probably found him funny in a different situation; he looked like a gorilla that lost its banana. "Luigi, Antonio, get them."

The men in black surged forwards, but they tripped over thin air. A sharp intake of breath sounded from beside them – Annabeth had tripped them over.

"Honestly, I have to do everything myself." Stephen said regretfully. Pulling his gun out of his pocket, he pointed at us. "Back in the seats." He ordered. Suddenly, his wrist flicked backwards, (perhaps helped by a certain invisible hand) and he shot at the wall, missing Luigi by an inch.

"What the hell are you doing?" bellowed Luigi, obviously misinterpreting his shot as an attempt to kill him. Luigi drew his own gun, and pointed it at Stephen. He pulled the trigger. Stephen's eyes froze, as he fell back with a loud, resounding _thud._

"You shot the boss!" the one called Antonio exclaimed.

"Nobody has to know that!" Luigi shouted back.

"That was my cousin!" Antonio raised his gun. So did Luigi. In unison, they shot each other, and the light left both of their eyes at the same time. Silence rang through the air.

"Humans." Gollum sighed pitifully. "There's no need to kill you. You turn against each other and kill yourselves."

Lying on the ground, the bodies began to stir. One was right next to Annabeth's foot; she jumped back. "What the?"

"I told you, the dead aren't dying." Clarisse said. "We have to go."


	14. Chapter 14

**We Go To Pompeii**

"Well, I think it's safe to say that I earned the right to come with you." Gollum told us, changing back into the teenage boy, as we found the shuttle bus in the airport.

"All you did was stand there and look pretty!" Clarisse said.

"Come on! You're gonna need company when these two are off doing the you know what."

"Oi." I said.

"Fine, but we're not paying for you!" She stormed onto the shuttle bus. As we climbed on, Gollum whispered in my ear. "Hey bro, you will pay for me right?"

"So, where are we going to?" Gollum asked as the bus bumped along the road. Everything was brighter now. It looked like around 10am.

"Pompeii." Annabeth told him.

"Oh, I hate that place."

"Then why are you coming?" Clarisse spat at him.

"Why not? So what are we going to do when we get there?"

"Um…" Annabeth and I looked at Clarisse.

"Uh… I'm still working on that."

"Excellent." Gollum said, rubbing his hands together. "Improvisation. Winging it. Spontan-"

"We get the idea." Clarisse cut him off.

Eventually, we reached the train station. It was a very large indoor place, similar to the airport. "Okay so what now?" Clarisse asked, mainly talking to Annabeth.

"Well, we're at Napoli Centrale Station, we get the Circumvesuviana train to the Scavi Villa Misteri stop."

"English?" I said.

"We get the train to Pompeii." She told me, annoyed. "Do you think we could stop at Herculaneum? Apparently it's one of the only cities that preserved most of the houses, and it still looks like Ancient Rom-"

"Maybe on the way back." Clarisse told her. "Just get us to Pompeii first."

Gollum didn't really like to talk about himself. He wouldn't even tell us his name. The train took us around the base of Mount Vesuvius. Annabeth decided to fill us in about volcanoes.

"Did you know, in the Pompeii eruption Vesuvius spewed 1.5 million tons of lava per second? The eruption released a hundred thousand times the thermal energy released by the Hiroshima bombing. And the last major eruption was in March 1944, where it destroyed four villages, and hit some U.S bomber planes from the Second World War. It's about 4,190 feet high and the base is around thirty miles. It's around 17,000 years old and you can actually see sulphuric smoke coming out of the crater!"

"Is she always like this?" Gollum asked.

"Mostly." I told him.

Thirty five minutes, fourteen facts and seven innuendos later, we were at our stop.

The train station was an orangey red colour. Across the street, al large group of tourists were gathered around the entrance. Annabeth was first in line to get in; she looked as if Christmas had come early.

"We need to get rid of them." Clarisse whispered.

"Leave that to me." Gollum said. Transforming into a tall man in a black suit, he pulled a pair of sunglasses out of his pocket, and headed over to the crowd.

"FBI." He told the crowd in a deep voice, holding out a badge.

Annabeth had to punch me in the stomach because I was laughing so hard, though she was barely suppressing a smile herself.

"This area is being closed off for the day."

"Why?" squeaked an old woman from the crowd.

"That is classified information."

"Has something bad happened?" asked a worried mother pushing a stroller.

"That is classified information."

"When will it be open again?" a man with a camera around his neck asked.

"That is classified information."

Grumbling, the crowd dispersed.

"Smooth." I told Gollum.

"It did the job." He said coolly.

"Come on." Clarisse ordered.

"How are we going to find him?" I asked.

"Follow the sense of impending doom." Clarisse told us solemnly.

We entered. Gollum had to tell a few tour guides and staff members to leave. Broken columns were placed around stone steps, leading up to isolated statues that lay around a small courtyard and around the streets. Annabeth narrated for us. "That's a satyr. And that one over there is Hercules. Over there, that's Polycletos. And that's Apollo over there."

Dust dissipated into the air as we kicked it up, walking in the places nobody usually walked to look for Hades. Inside the buildings, carvings on the walls depicted different scenes – some of triumphant heroes, but some of bloodthirsty wars. Every step we took made heightened the feeling that the walls were going tumble down on us. Decaying houses lined the streets, falling apart due to the rubble that buried them. We carried on; but we had no clue what we were looking for. A deadly silence poisoned the air. I tried to imagine being there – people screaming, running around, clueless… it made me want to turn back. Assuming that was exactly what Hades aura was causing, I carried on in the direction that made the feeling stronger. Every now and then, we'd see a glass case with a person in – preserved in the ash so they looked like mummies. Some were in peaceful positions, but some still had a look of terror imprinted into their faces.

Turning what seemed like the hundredth corner, a beautiful villa met our eyes, contrasting with what we'd just walked through. Completely restored, it was as if a volcano had never erupted here. Plants grew, the whole building was intact. An overpowering numinous feeling was emitting from it. This was where Hades was.

Clarisse pushed open the wooden door, leading us into the atrium. The floors were made of marble, so shiny that I could see myself in them. Surely, in the days when this house had been used it belonged to royalty.

Surrounding the room ran a colonnade, and doors leading off to more rooms. There was no roof, so the sunlight beamed down into the mini courtyard, onto a statue placed in the middle. It looked like Zeus, though I suppose the Romans would have called him Jupiter. Centered on the left was a mini altar, which I recalled was for worshipping household gods. Annabeth looked like she wanted to explore, but Clarisse said "C'mon," pressing on. Clarisse led us through to a room that I remembered to be called a tablinium (a meeting and reception area). Hades aura was definitely getting stronger by the minute. Unable to shake the feeling that someone was watching us, I uncapped riptide.

Suddenly, two skeletons jumped out at us, their bones making a rattling noise. They held out swords, and I mirrored them. I stabbed at the first one, and engaged him in swordplay. The other one joined in, I was handling two at once. I could practically hear Clarisse wishing she could join in, but she had no weapon. I disarmed the second skeleton and just as I was about to decapitate the first, black smoke engulfed it, eating away at the bones and swirling them into the air.

"How did you get that past customs?" I asked Annabeth, bewildered, as she held her knife from Athena. She smiled knowingly, and stabbed the other skeleton that was creeping up on her. Clarisse led us through another colonnade into a small garden.

It was certainly not as beautiful as the rest of the villa. All the grass had died. Sunlight beamed down on the flowers, but they were wilted as if cowering away from it. Shadows were cast in unnatural places. Standing in the middle, still wearing his woven gold crown, was Hades. Behind him were four silhouettes, but their faces weren't visible. Shadows wrapped around their bodies and everything was dark around them. They emitted an even darker aura than Hades.

"Percy Jackson," He boomed, even though he was standing right next to me. "Did you have to kill my men on the way in?"

"Well they tried to kill us." I retorted.

"No, my boy, they tried to welcome you in and escort you to the garden. It is called hospitality, extending the hand of friendship, amity, neutrality, union, armistice. Something that killing your host's servants does not demonstrate."

"Sorry?"

"I see you've brought security?" He nodded to Gollum who was still in his FBI uniform. "Surely you know that a mortal cannot match my power?"

"I'm not mortal!" Gollum interrupted indignantly.

"My apologies." He turned to me. Why was he being so… nice? "It took you longer to get here than I'd expected."

"Um… Were you expecting me?"

"Obviously."

It didn't seem that obvious to me, but I carried on. "Why exactly?"

"Something has been… lost. I cannot find it myself, due to where it is, and my son Nico is… ah, not ready for the quest. Considering that the lost item is in the sea, I led you here to ask for help. The Gods would never listen to me if I needed help – my only choice was to attract their attention in another way. By not doing my job."

"Well… what do you want me to find?" I asked, confused.

"My wife." Silence filled the garden. How do you lose a person?

"So that's why winter's not coming," piped up Annabeth, "because Persephone hasn't gone to the underworld."

Hades nodded. "Will you find her?"

I turned to Clarisse; this was her quest after all. She nodded. "Okay." I told him.

"Good. I can't give you exact locations, but my informants tell me that she is somewhere in the north of the Atlantic Ocean. Over there," he gestured to the people behind me, "Is Thanatos, Atropos, Clotho and Lachesis, Nessus, Charon, along with the Keres. They are each Gods of Death in their own right. None of them will perform any of their duties until she is returned to me. Good luck."


	15. Chapter 15

**We Steal a Boat**

"The Atlantic Ocean? Are we just supposed to search the whole Atlantic Ocean?" Clarisse asked incredulously, as we exited the Pompeii ruins.

"Can we please get a boat there this time?" I asked.

"Planes are quicker." Clarisse said.

"I didn't know that they had airports in the _middle of the ocean._" I retorted.

"If you can find a boat, we can sail there."

"Where are we going to get a boat?" asked Annabeth.

"May I suggest _Venice_?" interjected Gollum, who was back in his teenage boy form.

"No." said Clarisse shortly.

"Why not? You can look for a boat, these two can get down to business and I might even find something for myself-"

"We can find a perfectly good boat somewhere here." Clarisse told him.

"Well, I guess Herculaneum is out then." Said Annabeth disappointedly.

After getting a train ride to wherever Annabeth bought three tickets to, we wandered along the coast for a while until we came past a dock with a few ships lined up. The sun had set, and the only light came from the moon, which was much brighter than it was in Manhattan. The waves lapped against the shore, I wanted to take my shoes off and walk in the surf, but Clarisse deemed it a waste of seconds. The five boats tied to the dock varied in size, the smallest being a dinghy and the largest being a cruise ship.

"Stealing a ship? Guys, you're more like me than I thought." Gollum told us.

"We're not so much stealing as…" I began.

"Stealing. I'm not bringing it back." Clarisse finished. "I doubt anyone will complain though, if we don't steal it then the world gets ruined."

Still, I don't do this kind of thing. I sized up the five boats, trying to decide which would be best for me. The second one stood out – big enough for the four of us but small enough to manage easily. The only problem was that people were already on board.

"Gollum? Can you get everyone off the second one?" I asked.

"That depends. Are you gonna keep calling me Gollum?"

"Get moving." Clarisse ordered, shoving him forward. As he walked forward, he changed into a policeman. He approached the boat. Climbing on, he shouted, "Tutto bene, tutti voi, fuori." There was a grumbling noise. "Segnalazioni di una barca rubata corrispondente a questa descrizione. Si sta andare ad avere per andare alla stazione."

Three middle aged men carrying cans of beer emerged from the boat. "Figlio di puttana." The middle one muttered under his breath.

As Gollum escorted them away, we sneaked on. I began checking the rigging as soon as possible. Deciding that they were alright, I pulled the lines out of their cleats and off their winches. Whilst I was fiddling with the topping lift, Gollum climbed on. "Only one bedroom, huh? Well, we don't want to be disturbing sea boy and Athena girl, maybe you and I should wait out here tonight, Ares."

"Gollum –" I began.

"Oh, come on, we all know what happens when the lights go out-"

"Gollum watch the boom!" Too late. A large _thud_ behind be told me that he'd not listened to me.

"Clarisse, hoist the mainsail." I said.

"You what Jackson?"

"Pull on the halyard- that." I told her, pointing.

"Che stanno rubando la barca!" The Italian men were running towards us. Annabeth started untying the line tethering us to the dock.

Just in time, I managed to steer to boat away from them. One desperately tried to grab the boat, but missed by an inch. He balanced for a second, before toppling into the water.

For the first time in days, I felt great. Willing the waves to push us forward, I turned to see Gollum still lay on the floor.

"Gollum?" I asked.

"What," he said angrily, looking at the boom "is even the point in that thing?"

I laughed. "So how exactly do we find Persephone?"

"You're the one who can talk to sea animals, seaweed brain." Annabeth said.

"Right." I stood on the edge of the boat. _Um… is there anyone here?_

A school of fish swam to the surface.

_Yes Lord?_

Every creature in the sea always needed to call me _lord_ for some reason, and no matter how many times I told them to stop, they still insisted on doing it.

_Uh, apparently, the goddess Persephone is somewhere in the sea. How come no one found her when they were searching for Hades?_

_If they were searching for Hades' aura, they would not have been looking for the aura of a nature Goddess_

_Oh… could you do me a favour then? _

_Anything Lord!_

_Could you try and get sea creatures to look for Persephone's aura? We kind of need to find her._

_Of course! We will go right now._

They darted away. Annabeth and Clarisse were stood on the bow of the boat. Gollum was back in his teenage boy form, looking a little green.

"Hey sea boy." He called over the rising winds. "How long do we all have to stay out here?"

"We'll take shifts." Clarisse interjected. "Percy can take the first one."

_Fine with me,_ I thought. _I'd rather be up here than down there with Gollum throwing up. _I leant on the bow of the boat. Clarisse and Gollum climbed into the cabin, but Annabeth joined me. Her hair was blowing in the wind, and she smelt of seawater. I'd rather not tell her, for fear of being injured, but she'd never looked more beautiful.

"So, seaweed brain –"

"Are you ever going to stop calling me that?"

"Uh, no."

"Great." I said sarcastically.

"Come on, you know you like it."

"Maybe a little."

"So how long 'til we get there?"

"To the ocean?"

"To… wherever we're going."

"We're not really going anywhere." I admitted. "We're just floating about right now, waiting for directions."

"We should have taken a plane."

"I actually kind of wanted to avoid flying."

"Oh, I know. You were terrified."

"_Terrified? _I think you're exaggerating." I joked.

"You were shaking like mad."

"I was shaking a _little_."

"Liar."

"Watch out, there's a spider." She jumped, then jabbed me in the ribs with her elbow. Athena's children all had a phobia of spiders.

I could hear Clarisse shouting at Gollum in the cabin. "I don't think Clarisse really likes Gollum." I stated.

"He is a bit weird. One minute he's a baby sitting on your lap, and then he's an FBI agent."

"He was definitely cuter as a baby." I told her.

"At least we don't have to carry him around now."

"We were good parents."

"I was. You were okay. Better than you were at flying."

"Hey! I managed to stand up and run around on that thing!"

"I know. You started putting people in headlocks."

"I thought he was Gollum!"

"_Sure._"

"Hmm. You didn't seem too bothered."

"You're cute when you're jealous."

"That was a good kiss by the way. Can I have another one?"

"Don't get cocky, seaweed brain." She said, smiling, and leaned in.

"Aw, you two are so _cute._" Gollum's head was leaning out of the cabin.

"Try spending ALL of your time with them." Clarisse told him, her head popping out.

"You invited us on this quest." I said.

"I can kick you off it."

"Did you want something?"

"We came to make sure you didn't have sex." Gollum told us. "_Duh."_

"Well, actually, I came up to take my shift. I can't stand him." She spat, gesturing to Gollum.

"Love you too sweetheart."

"Jackson, you can go in here for now. I'll shout you if any fish come asking for you. Both of you should try to get some sleep." She ordered. Reluctantly, I climbed down into the cabin with Gollum.

"Seriously though, how'd you start dating her if you're supposed to hate her?" he asked.

"Our _parents_ hate each other." I corrected him.

"According to the Ares girl, you had a big fight in front of the whole camp."

"Then we made up."

"Made _out_ you mean?"

"Same thing." I told him.

The cabin was only a small room, dimly lit by a dusty lamp hanging from the ceiling. It had two couches on either side, both made of a red checked material. Gollum curled up on the next one and fell to sleep the second his head hit the pillow. Unfortunately, my brain didn't seem to be in the mood to sleep. Trying to make sense over what had happened over the past few weeks only made it hazier. The light flickered on and off, and the boat swayed slightly with the waves.

Half an hour later, the cabin door opened. Annabeth was climbing in, shivering and soaking wet. "There was a really big wave." She explained shortly. "Clarisse insisted that she finished her shift though."

"You look freezing." I told her, taking off my jacket and wrapping it around her. "Sit down." I sat up on the couch to make room for her. Her skin felt like ice. I'd never really registered before just how cold the ocean can get – if I go in it, I'm completely unaffected by temperature. Putting my arm around Annabeth, she rested her head on my shoulder and was asleep within minutes, whilst her damp clothes dripped all over me.


	16. Chapter 16

**Thank the Gods for Harry Potter**

Bright, blinding sunlight filled my eyes as I opened the cabin door. "And the lovebirds emerge from their nest!" Gollum exclaimed as Annabeth and I climbed out onto the deck. Sitting down, Clarisse shoved a sandwich onto my lap. "I'm going to see if I can sleep for a bit now." She informed me grumpily, before storming off into the cabin. I wondered how long Gollum had been up here annoying her.

"We're getting lunch for breakfast. I've never lived life so on the edge." Gollum commented. Annabeth still looked half asleep. Somehow, I knew that we were at the coordinates 36º48'33'N 18º16'52''E.

We sailed for about a day, taking shifts so we could go in and take a nap. It was probably one on the laziest quests I'd ever been on. We'd lounge around on the deck, Annabeth would read, Clarisse and Gollum would argue, and I'd hang over the deck. It was a bright day, with a cool breeze. The waves lapped gently against the sides of the boat.

"Woah! My gods…" Gollum exclaimed out of nowhere from the edge of the boat. "Nice… fishies… Sea boy, please say this is a friend of yours."

Circling the boat were two great white sharks. Gollum pushed me forward, saying, "If they want food, you're first over the side."

_Lord, we know where the Goddess is._

_Can you show me? _

_Of course, we can lead you there._

_Great, let's g-_

The boat jolted as if it had hit land. Clarisse and Annabeth came out of the cabin screaming "What the hell was that?"

Cautiously, I leant over the boat. Nothing was there. Even the sharks had gone. How were we going to get there now? A shadow began to rise from the deep. The closer it got to the boat, the bigger it seemed to get. Slowly, it drew nearer, and nearer, and nearer…

BANG! The boat almost capsized. Gracefully arching through the air was a giant monster, as thick as ten pythons and twice as long as the boat. It was black as the pit to Tartarus, and believe me, I'd know. Rows of sharp teeth lined its mouth, which was wide enough to swallow me whole. It was a cross between the basilisk out of Harry Potter and a fish. As it dived back into the water, it turned back into a circular dot, smaller and smaller until it disappeared.

Gollum gulped. "What in the name of Zeus was that?"

Automatically, I turned to Annabeth. She said, "I think that it was a –"

BANG! Grabbing Annabeth's wrist, I held onto the side of the boat for dear life. The monster had jumped out of the water and flopped onto the side of the boat, dragging it down. We were slipping off, the starboard side of the boat pointing to the sky. Gollum was clutching the cabin door. Clarisse had managed to get a hold on the boom, but it had swung round and she was hanging off it, dangling in the water. It tipped more and more sideways, as the boat began to become more and more vertical. "Jackson, I thought sea creatures liked you!" Clarisse yelled, as the waves hit the boat and sprayed her face. Annabeth was holding onto my wrist with both hands, her feet unable to find any firm ground. The sea monster snapped its teeth at her legs, and in panic she let go of my wrist. I grabbed her hand as she began to fall. "Annabeth be careful, you can't breathe underwater!"

She looked at me sarcastically. "You think?"

"Well don't let go then!" I shouted frantically, as her fingers started to slip through my grip.

"I'm trying not to!"

"Guys, this is not the time to play titanic!" Clarisse screamed, as the monster took one last snap and slid off the boat – catching Annabeth's shoe as it went. Clarisse tried to grab Annabeth's hand to pull her free, but the monster was too strong and pulled Clarisse along with it. It knocked Gollum into the water, and his arms started flailing around uncontrollably. "Annabeth!" I shouted. The boat fell back to floating the right way up, and the monster sunk into the deep, dragging Annabeth and Clarisse with it.

Immediately, I dived into the water. Admittedly, I'm a good swimmer, but I was nothing compared to this thing. I was lagging behind it. Willing for a current to push me forward, I uncapped riptide. The water responded to my thoughts and surged me forward. We were getting further down, and if we didn't stop soon the girls would be crushed by the pressure, assuming they hadn't already drowned.

I caught up to it and tried to stab at it with riptide, but the thing's skin was thicker than metal. I was having no trouble breathing, but the same couldn't be said for the others. Clarisse had let go of Annabeth, and was desperately gasping for breath, clutching at her throat. Annabeth was unconscious, and the monsters teeth were still tightly clasped around her ankle. I needed to get them up to the surface as soon as possible. I stabbed riptide at the only body part that wasn't shielded with thick leathery skin – its eye. It let go of Annabeth's ankle, which was mangled and covered in blood. Whilst the monster writhed about in pain, I swam forward and grabbed Annabeth and Clarisse's arms, dragging them back up to the surface. Even though I willed the current to bring us up, we would never make it – Clarisse was still choking and flailing her arms and legs around, and Annabeth being unconscious meant I had a dead weight on the other side. The monster was slowly regaining its mentality. I only had one choice left.

_Please dad, _I thought with all my might, _I need help._ It was a long shot; Gods didn't like to help on quests, and if they did, they'd want a sacrifice. Unsurprisingly, I had nothing on me right now. _Please. _Hopefully prayers like this could show how desperate you were, because the monster was almost completely calm again, we were only halfway there – I was ready to get down on one knee and beg. _Please. _I looked around – no help was coming.

Suddenly, a giant current surged me forward, pushing us to the surface. _Thanks,_ I thought.

As we rose above the water, Clarisse took a huge gulp of air, and began trying to catch her breath. Gollum was nervously treading water; he'd transformed into a lifeguard and had a safety ring around his waist. "Help me get Annabeth up!" I yelled. He and Clarisse (who was breathing normally again) started pulling her towards the boat. I tried to get control over the situation. The three of them had gone inside the cabin. I willed for a giant wave to push them as far away as possible.

Experimenting, I tried to imagine the sea spinning, sucking everything in. A mini whirlpool formed not far from me. Concentrating on the thought, I put all my effort into making it bigger and resisting the urge to fall into it. The monster started to swim up to the surface; but it got caught in the current. Spinning round and round, the whirlpool started to turn red as the blood from its eye started mingling with the water. I couldn't hear anything over the sound of water sucking I everything it touched.

I let the whirlpool die down. It had done what I'd wanted it to; the monster looked extremely dizzy. Unfortunately, creating a whirlpool had taken a lot out of me, and I didn't feel too great myself. Clutching Riptide, I prepared for the monster to dive at me. Drunkenly, it lunged forward, and I dived out of the way. How could I kill this thing? It struck me how much it looked like the basilisk from Harry Potter. It surged forward to me, teeth bared at the ready, and I swam away just in time. I remembered that movie, my mom had borrowed it from one of her colleagues at her candy store, and we'd watched it whilst eating blue bonbons. Once again, it attacked, this time scraping my arm with its razor sharp teeth. In the movie, they stabbed it in the eye – _check_, I thought, as I looked at the bloody mess that used to be able to see things. What had they done next? It was kind of hard to remember with the thing throwing itself at you every thirty seconds. Darting through the water, it had another go. I sunk under the water to avoid it. Then I remembered that he'd stabbed the roof of its mouth. Although it was a good plan, it had its flaws. I could play it out in my head – it'd dive at me, I'd stab its mouth, but it would still fall forward, and its whole heavy body would converge on me.

_Sea god! Yummy! _I heard it saying my head. I had no choice but to try. Treading water, I forced myself not to move until the last moment. The monster had jumped out of the water. It was towering over me; its landing point was my face. Fighting every instinct in my body that told me to get the hell out of the way, I waited until it was practically on top of me, before stabbing through the roof of its mouth.

Blood poured over my head as the monster fell on top of me. If I had been on land, I would have been crushed. Up to this point I had remained dry – I only get wet in water if I want to. But now I was soaked in fresh blood. Concentrating on a giant wave to push the boat back to me, I watched as it sunk to its watery grave. My clothes were in shreds and I had cuts everywhere, as if I'd been attacked by a wolf. I climbed back onto the boat and opened the cabin door. Annabeth was on the couch in the cabin, still unconscious.

I tried to shake her awake, but she didn't respond. I perched on the edge of the seat. She was still wearing my jacket from last night. Her ankle was a mess, shreds of skin peeling away and blood pouring from it. I ripped of some of my mangled top and wrapped it around the wound to try and slow the blood flow. "Annabeth." I said weakly. She didn't respond, but holding her hand, I swear I could feel a pulse.

Behind me, Clarisse grabbed Gollum and pushed him outside. "Let's go, uh…" She trailed off as they stepped outside.

I waited for half an hour, refusing to go outside until Annabeth had woken up. I began fiddling with my blood soaked fingers. Suddenly, she started coughing.

"Annabeth!" I sighed with relief. Slowly, she sat up. Immediately I put my arms around her.

"Hey seaweed brain," she said.

Clarisse popped her head in through the cabin door. "Thank the gods, we thought we heard voices."

I let her out of the hug but continued to hold her hand. Gollum climbed in through the cabin door. "Athena girl, you're awake!" he exclaimed. "You know I carried you in here. You're welcome." He turned to me, "why do all your friends want to kill you?"

He was obviously talking about the sea monster, but Clarisse answered, "Because he has an annoying personality."

"By the way, what was that monster?" I asked Annabeth.

"A Ketea." She informed us. "There aren't many direct references to them in Greek mythology."

"As long as that was the only one." Clarisse said. "There are some sharks knocking on the boat, Jackson, I'm assuming they're there for you."


	17. Chapter 17

**We Save A God And Stuff**

The sharks led us to the coordinates 33º34'17''N 38º59'04''W. Somehow; I knew this in the north of the Atlantic Ocean. Abruptly, they stopped, and said in my head,_ This is the place Lord. She is below._

With that, they darted off. "Hey," I called to the others. "This is the place."

Clarisse climbed out of the cabin. "So how do we get down?"

"_You_ don't." I told them. Predictably, arguments arose immediately.

"We've come all this way!"

"You're not going on your own Percy."

"Jackson, if you think you're leaving us here-"

"Look, it's impossible for you to come. You'll end up drowning or being crushed by pressure."

"Well I can come." Gollum piped up. We all looked at him in surprise. "You know it's not just humans I can turn into."

"So what can you turn into?"

"Anything that moves and breathes really."

"Why didn't you help me before then with the monster?"

"Um, because I don't have a death wish?"

Clarisse and Annabeth looked ready to kill. "Jackson, if you mess this up…"

"I won't, okay?"

"So Sea boy!" interrupted Gollum. "Looks like we're on our own on this one! What's the plan?"

"We don't really know what we're going to find," I told him, "So there isn't one."

"Excellent." He rubbed his hands together.

I checked that riptide was in my pocket. Annabeth walked over to me. "Take this." She handed me her invisibility cap. "You'd better get back alive, seaweed brain." She kissed me. Wishing I could stay on the boat, I wrapped my arms around her. "I'll try." I promised.

"Hey Ares, how come I never get any of that?" Gollum shouted over to Clarisse. She glared at him "I'm joking sweetheart. Come on sea boy, let's get going."

As we jumped in, Gollum transformed into a merman. He had a tail, metallic green. Other than that, he looked like himself when he was in teenage boy form. At first, he flapped around as if he was drowning, but after a minute he calmed down and treaded water easily. "Takes a moment to get used to." he told me. "Lead the way then."

Descending lower, we entered a large cavern. Sparkling in the rocks was some type of gem that changed color when we moved. We swam deeper and deeper, through the twisting cave. Stalactites hung from the ceiling, and Gollum banged his head on them multiple times.

"Percy." Gollum whispered. "There's something there, I can hear it."

He was pointing to the next turn. Cautiously, we peeked around corner. Pacing the sandy floor was what looked like a dragon. It had four clawed feet, a tail longer than the length of my body, and a snake's head. Golden chains were around its neck, tying it to a rock.

"What is it?" I asked under my breath.

"Python." I really wasn't expecting him to answer. I looked at him, surprised. "I may shock you, but being a mythological creature, I actually know a little about mythological creatures."

I stared at him expectantly. "So what is it?"

"You want the whole story?" I nodded, and he carried on. "When Zeus was screwing Leto even though he was married to Hera, Leto got knocked up with Apollo and Artemis. Hera got all jealous and banned Leto from giving birth on land. So she went to some floating island and had the kids. Hera got all bitchy and sent Python after her, and Apollo killed it. Evidently, he didn't do a very good job, because it's right there."

"Right, so-"

"No, wait, I tell a lie. That was Tityos. Python was the one that guarded the Oracle. Still slain by Apollo."

"So how do we kill it?"

"How should I know? Sheesh, I'm not Annabeth. Trust me, I don't like you in that way." He informed me.

"Okay, so you could distract it, and I'll sneak up and try and kill it." I suggested

"Why do I have to do the distraction?"

"Because I'm the one with the sword."

"So?"

"What are you going to kill it with then?"

"I was thinking my bare hands."

"We're doomed."

"I bet I could do it."

"Just go!" I pushed him forwards. "Try and confuse it!"

Sheepishly, he slipped round the corner. Immediately, Python raised its head and darted forward. Its chains restricted it from reaching Gollum. I tried to look for a way I could get to it without it noticing me, but Gollum wasn't a very good distraction. Ideally, he would get around it, so it was pointing the other way and I could sneak up on it. But although the dragon couldn't move far with the chains, it could easily block the path.

"Okay… I'm just going to go past you he-" The second Gollum tried to pass it, it jumped towards him. "Okay, okay, maybe not…" He considered it, and took a deep breath. "Right, here goes." He swam forward, and straight away Python used its head to push him back. Gollum was back where he started, but the dragon hadn't attacked. Gollum tried again, and the same thing happened. "Would you just let me through?" Gollum said to it. It stared at him, eyes wide. Tentatively, he took a step forward. Python nudged him in the stomach with its head, like a pet dog. Gollum started to pat its head, and its giant tail started banging against both walls of the path. "Yo, sea boy, I think it's friendly!"

"Are you sure?"

"Well, I'm not dead."

Cautiously, I stepped up to it. Bounding up to me, it started nudging at my hand. It didn't seem like it would hurt a fly. "Hera sent this to _kill _someone?" I asked Gollum.

"No. Did you not listen? That was Tityos. T-I-T-Y-O-S. There's a real easy three letter word in there to help you rememb-"

"Okay, okay I got you."

The dragon started fidgeting as if the chain around its neck were irritating it. _This isn't a sea creature, _I thought, as it writhed about uncomfortably. If it had have been, I would be able to converse with it. "It shouldn't be down here." I said. "Someone's locked it up to guard Persephone."

"Let's set it free then!" he said enthusiastically.

Using riptide, we hacked at the weakest links in the chains for about five minutes until we broke them. I expected the dragon to try and get to the surface, but it retreated further into the cave, incidentally leading the way for us. The place was like an underground maze. Soon, we came to a small, circular hole in the rocks, with seaweed draped over it. If the dragon hadn't come here, I would never have given it a second thought. The dragon swam through the hole. Gollum and I waited near it with our ears pressed up against the walls, though it didn't do much good.

A voice, who I identified as Persephone's, was saying "I don't want to! Don't act like you never had your chance!"

Another voice argued back, "I tried, but she was so stubborn I had no choice to back down! What would you have had me do?" The voice was familiar, but I couldn't quite pinpoint who it was.

"Fight! Stand up for yourself, for me!"

"Please, just give it a chance!" the nameless voice begged.

"No. You've kidnapped me, and I want you to return me to where you found me." Persephone told it firmly.

"The only reason you were there in the first place was because you'd been kidnapped!"

"Yes, and you are very late on your rescue mission. Return me to where I was happy."

"Can you honestly say you were hap-"the voice trailed off. "YOU!" it yelled. I chanced a glance through the seaweed – the dragon blocked the view of Persephone and the other speaker; but the dragon was backing up. Gollum pulled my head back around before I got caught. "Who's unchained you?"

I looked at Gollum – I wanted to go and help the dragon – but he was shaking with fear, looking directly behind me. Slowly, I revolved on the spot; I put the dragon out of my mind.

"Listening in, boys?" Demeter was standing behind us. Apart from the fact that she was very pale, and her hair looked knotted and soggy, she looked exactly the same as when I'd last saw her. She grabbed our arms (she was surprisingly strong) and dragged us through more twisty corridors. Finally, we came to a small chamber, with solid metal bars blocking the door. She clicked her fingers. They opened (smoother than the ones in the underworld had) and she threw us in. _Great, _I thought, _I'm trapped in a cell again._

"How can she be down here?" Gollum asked, bewildered. "Gods can't cross between domains…"

"Ah." I realised what she'd wanted me to say yes to in the underworld. "I may have… accidentally…"

"Great. Couldn't you get out being son of the sea god and all? We are underwater."

"I don't think that's really going to help much." I told him hopelessly. "We could try an Iris message?"

"Iris has gone AWOL, no one knows where she is."

I examined the walls – they were all solid stone. We weren't getting out anytime soon.

"Well, I'm outta here." Gollum said.

"What?"

"It's been fun sea boy, but I don't wanna end up as god food. I'm off."

"Why did you even come then?"

"Looked like fun. Sitting in a cell though, isn't."

"So you're just going to leave me?"

"Yep. See you."

He transformed into an eel and easily swam through the bars. Within thirty seconds, he was out of sight.

I wanted to punch him. I'd thought he was our friend! Sure, I should've probably expected it, considering we'd met with him pickpocketing me, but still.

Inside the cell was dark and gloomy, just a small cavern that I was locked in. I was about to start banging on the side and shouting, when something caught my eye.

Someone was approaching the cell. He had sandy hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a white top, blue jeans, and loafers, exactly like when we'd last saw him, except his bright cocky smile had vanished. Apollo walked right up to my cell. "Hey Percy. Sorry about this."

"Why am I locked up? Why have you got Persephone?" I asked.

"Well… It was Demeter's idea you see… You know how Persephone was kidnapped and brought to the underworld? Well, Demeter wanted to kind of kidnap her again to get her back…"

"Then why are you here?"

"I used to like Persephone. I was even going to marry her – but Demeter was all like 'oh, you're not good enough.' You know, your typical disapproving mother." (I could understand where he was coming from on that one.) "Now she's been kidnapped, though, I'm her favourite again." He told me bitterly.

"Hades isn't letting anything die until he gets her back." I informed him.

"I know."

"You can't keep her down here forever."

"Oh, Demeter doesn't want to. She says that if nothing dies, enough of the gods will get annoyed – Ares, for example. Probably my sister, Artemis. All the Gods that need people to die for their job to work. Eventually, they'll complain, and Hades will be sent back to the underworld, and Persephone can stay here."

"But she doesn't want to." I argued.

"So you heard that… well, she didn't want to go to the underworld at first, but she changed her mind in the end, didn't she?" He didn't look too sure. Actually, he looked like he wanted to tell him that he was doing the right thing. "I just don't know… with the Prophecy, that is. Yes I know it," He added at the surprised look on my face, "I made it. The last line – _and fail to return the imprisoned one _– does it mean that we'll fail to return her to earth? Or that Hades will fail to return her to the underworld?" He looked at me as if he expected me to answer.

"Uh…"

"I've got to go now. I'm really sorry," He added. He did look it, but I would've preferred an escape route rather than an apology, "I'm sure Demeter will let you out when this is over…" He trailed off, and left me on my own.

So that's how he knew where to pick us up when we got out of the underworld. _What a hypocrite! _I couldn't help thinking. Why was I being locked up because the gods had family issues? I couldn't get an image out of my head of Hades, Persephone, Demeter and Apollo sitting on one of those talk shows.

After pacing the room for what seemed like forever, I remembered something: I had Annabeth's cap. A plan formulated itself in my head. I put it on, and started banging on the bars as loudly as possible. Two mermen appeared immediately, opening the bars and searching for me. I slipped out behind them. How had Demeter gotten _mermen_ on her side?

Cautiously, I tried to find my way back. Don't ask me what I planned to do, I really had no idea. When I reached the place Gollum and I had been caught, I walked right in through the hole. Inside was a giant chamber, dimly lit, with boulders littering the floor. Persephone and Demeter stood at the opposite end, but neither of them could see me. Persephone's eyes were red and puffy, and Demeter looked angry. "Everything was fine! I saw you for six months a year! Why can't you just let me-" Persephone was arguing.

"You don't know what's good for you! You shouldn't have to spend all your time with… with… with him!" Demeter shouted.

"I like spending all my time with him! He's probably worried sick right now-"

"Well then he should know how I felt, when he took you from me!" Vaguely, they reminded me of cheesy movies where the teenage daughter wants to be with someone the parents don't like. "Over time, you will realise that I'm right."

"Ugh!" Persephone stormed off through a door to the side of the room.

"Demeter!" Apollo came running into the room. "Percy Jackson, he's escaped."

"Put extra guards on this room. I don't want him talking to her."

_Hahaha, too late,_ I thought, as they left the room. I knocked first – I didn't know what type of powers Persephone had, but I was pretty sure that she'd have used them on me if I'd have gone in there unannounced.

"If that's you, Mother…" I stepped in and took off the hat. The room was just a smaller version of the one I was just in. "Percy Jackson." She stated.

I wasn't sure what to say to that. I wasn't sure what I was planning on saying at all. "Um…"

"Why are you here?" she asked curiously.

"Hades sent me."

"So you gave my mother permission to keep me here, then you came to get me back?"

"I didn't actually know that was what she wanted." I told her.

"Well then? How exactly do you plan to bring me back to my husband?"

_Good question, _I thought. "Uh… I really don't know." I admitted.

"Well, I'm up for trying. Lead the way."

That took me by surprise. I was kind of expecting her to have an idea. I tried to come up with something to sneak her out. "I know, put this on. Follow me." I handed her Annabeth's cap. At first she looked confused, but she put it on all the same. "Right," I said in the direction of where she stood before she disappeared, "Let's go."

Checking no one was outside, I drew Riptide just in case. The main chamber was empty. I ran to the end, praying to the gods that she was behind me, because Annabeth would kill me if I lost that cap. Two mermen were waiting outside the chamber for us. I pulled Riptide up and slashed at them, they dissolved into the water before they even knew what had happened. I felt kind of bad for killing mermen, but the fact they were working for Demeter stopped me from feeling too guilty. Trying to remember which way the dragon had led us (who I was pretty sure Apollo had killed by now) I got lost countless times, hit hundreds of dead ends, and ended up back where I started every single time. Hoping against hope that Persephone was still behind me, I tried again. I didn't want to ask her if she was there, because if there was anyone watching me then they'd know where she was. After turning the same corner for the tenth time, I bumped into someone.

"Percy?"

"Gollum?" There he was, still in merman form.

"Where the hell did you go?" he asked.

"Where the hell did _I _go? Where the hell did _you _go?" I whispered as loud as I could. I wanted to strangle him for abandoning me.

"I went to try and find some way of breaking you out!"

"Sure. Are you sure you didn't try to ditch me, then remember that you don't know the way out?"

"Honest! I was sure that someone would let you out; these people are all mer-people after all. But when I found someone, we got back and you weren't there! Take it from me man, you don't want to piss off a merman. These people don't like to be disturbed."

"Then why didn't you tell me that? Why did you start going on about it being too boring for you?"

"How long have you known me now? A week or something? Surely, you know by now that I like to be dramatic."

"Percy?" Persephone whispered from behind me.

Gollum fell over in surprise. "What in the name of Zeus was that?"

"Persephone." I whispered to him. "We're breaking her out."

"Wow, so it all went to plan in the end. Does she by any chance know the way out of here?"

"I don't think so."

"Good." He said.

"Remind me, how is that good?" I asked, bewildered.

"Because I know the way out and it wouldn't have seemed so impressive if you already knew."

"How do we get out then?"

"This way." He led us round a corner that I had seen a million times before. Two rights, three lefts and one dead end later, we were back again.

"Are you sure you know the way?"

"I memorised it on the way down. Just give me a few tries."

I gave him a few tries, but nothing changed. I was about to suggest that he try and find the merman who was going to let me out, when we came across a broken gold chain.

"Don't doubt me, sea boy." He told me.

From there we easily found our way out. I looked up at the surface; but Annabeth and Clarisse had gone. "How're we going to get back then?" Gollum asked.

I prayed to my dad for help. Surely he'd answer, because we had a Goddess with us? At first I thought he wasn't, but then three Hippocampi appeared before us. Persephone took off the hat.

"We'll ride these. Where are we taking you to?" I asked Persephone I wasn't sure if she wanted Pompeii or the underworld.

"I need to go to Olympus and consult with my father." She requested. We mounted the Hippocampi, and set off.


	18. Chapter 18

**Family Counselling With The Gods**

Travelling from there to America took over a week. A very long week. Every now and then, the Hippocampi would need a rest, or we'd see a mortal boat and we'd have to go underwater and take a break. Everyone would think we were dead back at camp. The only reason that I wasn't dying of hunger was that the ocean seemed to replenish me, but I was still starving. The second we washed up on Rhode Island, I insisted that we get some food. Gollum bought it (_bought_ might not be the right word), and I sat there pigging out on a double cheeseburger whilst the other two watched me awkwardly.

"Couldn't you just teleport to Olympus?" I asked Persephone. She looked at me like I was an idiot.

"If I do that, they are more likely to find me. I would prefer not to be cornered before I reach my father."

We took a bus to New York. Finally, we reached the Empire State Building. Persephone didn't even need to ask for authorisation to go up. Me and Gollum waited behind, planning to go back to Camp Half-Blood. Persephone looked at us. "What are you doing? You've got to come; I need witnesses that they imprisoned me!"

I didn't much like going up there, and Gollum didn't look too keen on it either. We followed her anyway.

We reached the 600th stop on the elevator. Olympus looked better than when I had last saw it – most of the ruins had been repaired. But it looked like a temporary home. No one was laughing and being happy like usual, they all had very solemn faces. Every now and then on the way to the throne room, I saw a design I recognised from Annabeth's blueprints.

Everyone in the throne room stared at us. All of the Gods were there – including Hades, Demeter and Apollo. Aphrodite sat adjusting her make up. Hephaestus sat next to her; a giant lump of a man, with a misshapen head and a wild brown beard that cackled with electricity. Hestia sat in the corner, in the form of an eight year old girl with mousy brown hair. Hermes was next to her, half concentrating on us and half concentrating on his cell phone. Dionysus sat across from them, next to Artemis, who had auburn hair and silvery yellow eyes, and looked only a little older than Hestia. She was next to my least favourite god – Ares. He wore sunglasses and a bulletproof vest. His face was scarred and he had an oiled crew cut. The thrones were arranged in a U shape, and a few other minor Gods had drawn up chairs. Zeus stood up. He had long dark grey hair, with a matching grey and black beard and grey eyes. He wore a dark blue pinstriped suit. In his hand was his Masterbolt. "Persephone-"

He was interrupted. One demigod was stood in the corner of the room that I hadn't previously noticed. It was Clarisse. The other one was running towards me. "You idiot!" Annabeth said to me, whilst punching me in the stomach. I saw Athena watching us curiously. Poseidon stood up as if he was going to stop her from killing me. The rest of the Gods looked absolutely clueless as to what was happening "You've been gone for ages! I thought you were dead!" She looked like she was going to punch me again, and my dad actually stepped forward, but she threw her arms around my neck. I held her, and over her shoulder I saw Athena looking murderous.

Zeus cleared his throat. "Um, anyway, Persephone, you have arrived…"

Annabeth pulled away – her eyes were red and puffy. "I swear," she whispered to me, as Persephone greeted her father, "If you ever do that again, I will knock you to the floor, no matter who's watching."

"Consider me warned." I told her, smiling.

"-and she trapped me underwater, but then Percy came and saved me-" she turned around and tossed Annabeth's cap to me, and I returned it to her, "-but I just want to go back!"

Zeus surveyed the room. "I'm not really sure what's going on here." He stated. "You, explain it, you've been there the whole time." it took me a moment to realise that he was talking to me.

"Oh, uh…" I really didn't want to, because I had a feeling that the gods involved were ready to kill me if I didn't tell their side of the story. "Well…" I proceeded to tell him everything. Annabeth being captured, my dad saying the sea was being attacked, Hades not knowing about it, getting locked up, Demeter helping us, Demeter asking me to say 'yes', Apollo bringing us back (Aphrodite piped up at this point, talking about herself again), Hades not letting things die, Iris not answering, going to Pompeii, the mafia being paid by a woman to kidnap us, meeting Hades, finding Persephone and Apollo arguing, Demeter locking us up, and getting out. Nearing the end of my story, my voice had gone hoarse.

My audience listened intently, with Demeter 'tutt'ing loudly whenever I mentioned her name.

"So," Zeus said once I'd finished, "You helped the demigods out of the underworld?" Zeus asked Demeter.

"Obviously," she sneered at me, "they would never have made it out alive on their own. I hid their scent, drew guards away from their hiding place, etcetera."

"And you," he aimed at Apollo, "brought them back to camp?"

"And opened the doors of Orpheus for them." He admitted. I remembered how the doors had opened before any of us had even attempted to make music.

"And you gave permission for Demeter to use the ocean as sanctuary?" Zeus asked me.

"Well, yeah, but I didn't know-"

"What was wrong with the system we had, Demeter?" he asked tiredly.

"What was wrong was that I could only see my daughter once a year!" Demeter argued.

"You had permission to enter the underworld at any time you please!" piped up Hades.

"I don't enjoy going to that hellhole, Hades." She spat.

"We have had this argument before." Said Zeus exasperatedly.

"None of this explains why you had to attack my domain!" interrupted Poseidon, though he looked unsure of whom he was talking to.

"I took Athena's daughter to lure the son of Poseidon to the underworld, so he could give me permission. But I knew that Chiron wouldn't let him go to save his friend. So I sent some creatures up to the ocean so Poseidon would persuade him to grant the quest." She told him, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well," Hera piped up, "it is obvious that a wife should be with her husband."

"She should also be with her mother!" argued Demeter.

"Where's Iris?" Hermes asked.

"No one knows." Poseidon told him.

"We're changing the subject." Athena said, looking daggers at Poseidon.

"I think the matter of Iris is quite important actually." Poseidon replied.

"Good for you. Maybe you should go and look for her now. Bring your son and keep him away from my daughter while you're at it."

"Not you two as well." Said Zeus exasperatedly.

"The girl can go back the underworld. Nobody's dying in my battles." Ares growled.

"And my hunters are getting frustrated that none of their prey is dying." Artemis added.

"Don't look at me!" said Demeter. "That's entirely his fault." She pointed at Hades.

"I will continue my duties as soon as my wife is returned." He told her calmly.

"The six months each idea was fair enough." Squeaked Hestia from the corner.

"I agree." Said Hephaestus.

"Just get her back down there." Ares demanded.

"She should be down there constantly if you ask me. Otherwise it gives _him _six months to be unfaithful a year." Hera looked pointedly at Hades.

"None of you know what's good for her! As a nature Goddess she should be spending her time in nature, not the land of the dead. She could have had a good husband and a happy life without him!" Demeter argued.

"As I recall, Demeter, it was you who turned down Apollo and me." Hermes accused.

"Oh, all this fighting." Aphrodite said amusedly. All the gods shut up when she spoke. She carried on adjusting her makeup; as if she wasn't aware she had the full attention of the room. "I bet it's all because of my son, Eros. He's such a little devil. Honestly, this could all be resolved by listening to the girl. Where do you want to go?" she asked Persephone.

"I want it to be like it was, six months for my mother _and _Hades."

"But that's not how it's been! You've been spending more time down there lately!" accused Demeter. _There's global warming for you,_ I thought.

"That can easily be resolved." Zeus interjected.

"See!" Aphrodite exclaimed. "Two love stories in this much time. This is great!" Annabeth and I went a little red. Some of the Gods looked at her, as if to say that almost causing a civil war was _not_ great. "All fixed."

"We still haven't addressed the fact that Demeter tried to kill mine and Athena's children." Poseidon said, gesturing to Annabeth and me. In my mind, every single one of them needed family counselling.

"She actually brought my child to the underworld." Athena added. Everyone stared at Athena and Poseidon in amazement – I guess it's not often they agree on something.

"We will agree on a punishment." Zeus said. "For her and Apollo. Until then, Hades, will you do your job now?"

"As long as Persephone returns to the underworld."

"It's settled then. The gods of death have a lot of work to do." Zeus stated.

"Charon's going to want another pay rise, isn't he?" Said Hades exasperatedly. "I'll be off now then." He rose from his seat. Unlike the other twelve Olympians, he didn't have a throne here.

Clarisse jogged over to us. "So you made it out alive." She stated. She didn't seem too unhappy about it. I decided not to tell them about Gollum leaving me under the sea. "Can we go back now?"

When we got back to the borders of Camp Half Blood, Clarisse rushed off to see Chris. Gollum halted in front of Thalia's tree. "I can't go past here. I guess it's time to say see ya!"

"Where are you going to go?" I asked him.

"I dunno. Wherever I feel like going."

I couldn't help but envy him a little. The guy had no boundaries; he literally went wherever he felt like. But I felt a little sorry for him as well, he had to do it completely alone.

"Don't look too down guys, maybe I'll see you again one day." He transformed from teenage boy form into his true self, the wrinkly green potato creature. The first time we'd seen him like that seemed so long ago, when we were on the plane and he'd branded Clarisse as a mental old woman assassin and Annabeth and I as parents. Subconsciously, I checked that riptide was still in my pocket and that he hadn't decided on one last trick. "It's been fun. I'm off."

"Are you just going to walk onto the road looking like that?" Annabeth asked.

"Seriously, Athena? We had a dramatic moment going there. You've ruined it. Congratulations. See you." He turned on his heels and walked back down the hill. Annabeth and I watched until he disappeared from view. Sadly, we walked back into camp.

Grover bumped into us on the way back down. "Hey guys! Are you okay? You look kind of depressed."

"No, we're fine. Is everything going okay again now?" Annabeth asked.

"Yep, the satyrs and nymphs have apologised to each other now that they know it was all Demeter and Hades." He informed us. "So dinner! I'm starving."

Everything was right again, at least for now, as the three of us headed to the dining pavilion together.


End file.
